


Prison Fit for a Thief

by Lunatic_Shipper



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Coffee Dad Sakura Sojiro, Futaba Sakura attends Shujin Academy, He's the dad we all deserve honestly, I'll warn you on the chapters it appears though., Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Let Sakamoto Ryuji Say Fuck, Light Angst, M/M, Not Canon Compliant - Persona 5: The Royal, Persona 5 Protagonist & Sakura Futaba Are Siblings, Persona 5 Protagonist Has A Palace, Persona 5 Protagonist Has Bad Parents, Persona 5 Protagonist Needs a Hug, Persona 5 Protagonist is from Inaba, Persona 5 Spoilers, Sakura Sojiro Adopts Persona 5 Protagonist, The Metaverse is back, pretty much at least
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:33:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 62,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25633618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunatic_Shipper/pseuds/Lunatic_Shipper
Summary: Akira Kurusu has a Palace and want his friends to do what they want and leave him to rot.Too bad that all his friends want is to help him.
Relationships: Kurusu Akira/Sakamoto Ryuji
Comments: 23
Kudos: 223





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There are references to self harm in this chapter, but I'll underline the paragraph that it starts and the paragraph that it ends 
> 
> No harm actually comes to pass but it is implied so read at your own risk

When Akira's probation ended, he didn't want to go back home. He knew he'd have to, but he wanted nothing more than to stay in Tokyo with the thieves and all the other friends he'd made. But he didn't have a choice. His only choice was to go home, so go home he did. 

He only spent 3 months, at home in Inaba. His parents no longer wanted anything to do with him. He was fed and had a roof over his head. But apart from a curt goodbye whenever they leave for work if he's in the room when they leave. He spent those months alone. His parents wouldn't talk to him, and he wouldn't talk to his friends. Because if his own parents don't want anything to do with him, why would his friends? 

So he left them alone. He didn't even text Futaba and Ryuji. Doesn't even really talk to Morgana. Doesn't talk to anyone. He didn't speak much before he went to Tokyo, but now he's practically become mute. No matter what Morgana tries to get him to talk, nothing works. He just sits there silently, staring off into space. 

It was Morgana's idea for him to go back to Tokyo. Because his parents didn't seem interested in caring for him, and Akira himself hasn't said a word since coming home. He doesn't even retaliate when his old friends call him a freak. In fact it seems to make him close himself off even more. Morgana knows that he needs to get Akira to go back to Tokyo, back to where his real friends are. But it's difficult to explain that to him, when Akira won't talk back. It's like he's trying to get Morgana to leave him. To leave him alone in his family home, where silence is the only way for him to get by.

He tries to tell Akira as much. That being here isn't doing him any good. But Akira isn't listening to him, almost like he wants to be here. Where his parents never talk to him and nobody cares about him. Morgana tries for weeks to get Akira to listen to him, even just to speak up to his parents about how they're treating him. But he does nothing, pretending that he hadn't even heard him. While Morgana may not wish to be human anymore, he certainly did in that instance. Because all the other Thieves were trying to talk to Akira. Sending him message after message, calling his phone, wanting just one response to know he was okay. But Akira responded to none of them. Didn't open the texts, and never answered the calls. Morgana wishes he was human so he could ask the others for help. Because at this rate, Akira was going to be as bad as Futaba was when they first met her. The only difference being that Akira was actually leaving the house. 

The final straw for Morgana, was at the end of their second month in Inaba. He had stopped following Akira to school now, not wanting to see how everyone treated his friend. Definitely not wanting to see how numb Akira was to it. So he spent his days waiting at home for Akira to return. Not that he would talk to him. But when he came home that day, Morgana was reminded of how he looked after the interrogation room. The injuries obviously weren't as bad. His ribs were probably untouched, but he was covered in bruises and cuts. He had a cut running along one side of his forehead, down to his temple. One on his nose and one on his lip. None of them had stopped bleeding, and the bruises looked incredibly sore. But no, what made it the last straw, was Akira's eyes. 

Even though being in Inaba had dulled it incredibly, there was always a spark behind Akira's eyes. Something going on behind them. Inaba had almost extinguished that spark, but it was just about there. He was still always looking around a room, like he was trying to figure out the quickest way to leave it. But today was different Akira's eyes were empty. Despite having grey eyes, they were always warm. But not then. On that Thursday afternoon, his eyes were cold. The spark behind them was dead and Akira himself was numb. He didn't even bother to clean his wounds before collapsing onto his bed. Didn't get out of his uniform either. Just collapsed onto his bed, and stayed there. It was then, as he watched Akira die from the inside out, that enough was enough. Somehow, he needed to get to the others. But Tokyo is a good few hours away in a train, he can only imagine how long it would take him to walk there. 

He jumps onto the bedside table, where Akira had dropped his phone. Figuring he might as well try to message one of the others before trying to get to them on his own. When he fails to even put in Akira's password (he's seen him enter it enough times to know what it is) he drops back onto the floor in annoyance. Because it means he'll have to find another way to contact them. 

He suddenly thinks of Haru, Akira helped her gain control over the company before leaving Tokyo. So anything that happens in the restaurants would surely make it's way back to her. And a cat running around multiple restaurants would surely attract attention. Inaba is a small area, so there isn't any here. But there is one barely 5 minutes out of the area. That's his first stop. He leaves Akira's room via the window, the teen barely spares him a glance as he leaves, just curls in on himself a little more. Morgana stares at him sadly before running out. Big Bang Burgers are open 24 hours a day so he isn't in a rush to get there. 

He gets chased out of the restaurant pretty quickly, but doesn't allow himself to get disheartened, he has a mission. He wants to help Akira and this is the only way he can see to do that. But it's getting late, and he doesn't particularly want to leave Akira alone tonight, so he turns back and heads for Akira's house. The teen is asleep when Morgana gets back. He still hasn't covered any of his cuts, but he has at least gotten out of his uniform. He stares at the teen for a little longer, but being unable to clean his cuts for him, he just curls up by his side. Smiling a little when Akira seems to relax in his sleep. 

The next day when Akira goes to school, Morgana makes his way to the next Big Bang Burger. He's inside this one for long enough to gain the attention of the manager. The last restaurant must have informed the ones nearby about him, because as he's chased out this time, he hears the manager say that they'll have to phone 'Miss Okumura' if it happens again. He runs out of the restaurant with a smirk, The nearest one after this is almost an hours walk away. So by the time he gets there, Akira should be out of school. He starts at a run, and gets to his destination a little over an hour later. 

They must be on guard after the last restaurant, because he gets caught barely 3 minutes after entering, but that's alright, he's trying to draw attention to himself after all. As he's chased out he sees the manager pick up the phone at the back of the shop. 

Akira is silent as always when he gets back. Curled up on his bed, back resting against the wall. His phone lays untouched next to him. Almost as soon as Morgana looks over at it, the screen lights up with a text from Haru. He skims it quickly before the screen turns off again, she's asking whether the black and white cat appearing in her restaurants near Inaba is Morgana or not. Akira glances at it, eyebrows scrunching in confusion, before he glances up at Morgana and looks away again. Part of Morgana gets angry about that, that Akira seemingly just doesn't care about him anymore. But the rational part of his brain reminds him that whatever Akira is going through right now, is making him act differently, and that he shouldn't be blamed for how he's behaving. If Morgana didn't know any better he'd almost think that Akira has a Palace, but that's impossible for 2 reasons. Not only did they destroy the Metaverse, Akira has a Persona, meaning it's impossible for him to have a Palace. But he's clearly going through something even without all of that stuff. Akira skips dinner again, that night. Opting instead to just go straight to sleep. Morgana's scared that Akira is going to become malnourished if this keeps up. Which just steels his resolve. 

Akira's parents are both off work the next day, so Akira leaves the house. He doesn't take his phone with him, just a bottle of water at Morgana's pleading, which is the only indication Morgana gets that he had been heard. Morgana doesn't follow Akira, he instead makes his way to the next Big Bang Burger on his list. 

When he arrives there, Haru and Futaba are waiting for him. Futaba wastes no time in scooping him up and for once he doesn't protest. Relishing in the feeling of being acknowledged. Haru apologises to the shops manager and explains to them that the cat belongs to her friend but he ran away a few weeks ago. The manager accepts the explanation easily. Futaba apologises as well as Haru to help make the lie more believable. They accept the apology and explain that as long as the restaurants are cleaned properly there hasn't been any harm done. Haru thanks the manager for being so understanding before leaving them to get to work again. 

Futaba carries Morgana into Haru's car before letting him go. Once the door is closed, they ask Morgana what he was doing. "I was trying to get your attention. We need to get Akira back to Tokyo." 

Futaba looks between the two before looking out the window. "I didn't tell Sojiro where I was going, I need to get back home, are you coming with us or going back to Akira?" 

Morgana stares out of the window for a minute. He doesn't want to leave Akira alone in the state he's in, but he's not going to be any help to Akira in Inaba. He has first hand experience of how bad he is, he'll be of more help to Akira if he's with the Thieves in Tokyo. "I'll come back with you. I don't want to leave him alone but.... It's not going to do any good if I stay here." Haru nods before tapping on the window separating them and the driver. 

As it rolls down a little she looks at the driver. "Take us back to Tokyo please." 

The driver nods, starting the engine up. "Straight to you home, Miss?" 

Haru shakes her head. "No, I'd like to take my friend home first if that's okay with you?" The driver nods politely so Haru tells him where to take them. Once the destination is in the GPS, the window rolls back up and sits back down in her seat. "Mona-chan, could you please tell us more about Akira's situation?" 

Morgana nods slightly before starting to talk. "I don't know what started it. Whether it was the act of going back home, or the fact that his parents have barely said 15 words to him since returning home. But he's not doing well. He's always been quiet, but it's different now. He's become mute, he doesn't say anything at all. Won't even talk to me. I've been trying to think of a way to help him for weeks now. But 2 days ago I knew I had to get him out of here. I went with him to school for a few weeks when we first got here. But I had to stop when the people he used to call his friends were calling him a freak or a monster. It wasn't much worse than what his schoolmates in Tokyo called him, but at least that was all behind his back. These people would say it to his face, threaten to push him down the stairs and knock stuff off of his desk just because they could, because he didn't fight back. Didn't even raise an eyebrow. But when he came home on Monday, I was reminded of what he looked like after the interrogation room. The injuries weren't as bad, and obviously he hadn't been drugged. But his face and neck were covered in bruises, still are. He had a few cuts on his face as well, but he didn't even bother to clean them. He just walked into his room, dropped his bag and collapsed onto his bed. Didn't even wince when his glasses pressed on his bruises, just reached up and dropped them onto the floor before staring off into space." Futaba and Haru had both teared up a little at this point. Futaba had grabbed onto Haru's arm and was squeezing it tightly, but the elder didn't seem to mind. "His eyes were so empty and cold and I knew he couldn't stay there anymore. But he wasn't listening to me, and I couldn't use his phone to message any of you. This was my next best bet." 

They sit in silence for a while after that. Only coming out of it, when the driver rolls down the window to announce that they've arrived at Futaba's home. The hacker, picks Morgana up before turning to Haru. "Thank you, Haru. And I'll talk to Sojiro about giving Akira his old room back above the cafe." 

Haru replies with a strained smile and nod. "I'll message the others and ask them to meet us tomorrow. Akira has helped each of us, it's time we return the favour." Futaba nods once, determined to help Akira, who had become her big brother. With another thank you directed at Haru, she closes the door and enters the Sakura residence. 

It isn't too late yet, so Sojiro isn't home yet, but he should be back within the hour. So Futaba makes herself comfortable, comforting Morgana who was feeling a little useless for not being able to help Akira. When Sojiro does get home, Futaba and Morgana are in the middle of a conversation. He stares at his daughter in curiosity before recognising Morgana. "What's the cat doing here? I thought he followed Akira when he went home." 

Futaba looks up at him before explaining every thing Morgana had told them in the car. "Morgana said he needs to get out of Inaba and back to Tokyo. So I was wondering if he could take over the room in the cafe attic again?" 

Sojiro agrees with a slight sigh. "Of course he can. But that kid can be extremely stubborn when he wants to be. How are you going to get him back here?" 

Futaba frowns slightly. "I don't know. But we're getting the others together tomorrow to talk about it. Akira has helped each of us so much. It's only fair that we help him when he needs it." 

Sojiro nods his head slightly. "Well, when you figure it out, let me know. The rooms all his." Futaba smiles at him thankfully before heading to her room to sleep. 

Meeting in Leblanc's old storage room without Akira's things in there feels wrong. But if everything goes right, it'll be his room again and be filled with all the strange things he acquires. Futaba is obviously the first one there, but neither she nor Morgana are surprised when they hear the cafe door open only 30 minutes later and see Ryuji running up the stairs. Morgana rolls his eyes a little at the blonde, but can't find it in himself to tease Ryuji for it. Not when he looks so genuinely upset with just the little bit of information Haru gave them all over text last night. 

He drops onto the bed next to Futaba. "How you holding up Futaba? I know he's like a brother to you." 

Futaba turns to face him, staring at him for a second. Having forgotten how gentle Ryuji can be when he needs to be. "Not great. But it was Mona who had to live with him for two months. Akira hasn't spoken to him in ages. Apparently he's not speaking at all, but still." 

Ryuji turns his head to face Morgana, who is sat on Futaba's other side. "Damn. Sorry you had to live like that Morgana." 

Morgana just shakes his head slightly. It may have hurt to be ignored, but he doesn't exactly blame Akira for it. "He spoke to me when they first got to Inaba, but within a week it was like he was conditioned not to talk. At all, to anyone. Least of all his parents." Morgana briefly wonders how Akira reacted when Morgana didn't come home last night. He probably hasn't changed much, if at all. But he hopes Akira hasn't and won't do anything drastic. 

Within the hour after Ryuji's arrival all the other Thieves were crowded into the room. Yusuke is the one to break the silence, asking Morgana to elaborate on everything Haru informed them of the night before. So he does. 

Once he finishes explaining everything, they all sit in silence for a few minutes. Futaba breaks it eventually, turning to Makoto. "I know that you and Haru have graduated. But is there any chance you could get Akira re-enlisted at Shujin?" Makoto thinks for a few seconds before nodding.

"I'm not sure if they'll listen to me. But I'll certainly try my best. But what are we going to do about his parents? I know they sent him here pretty willingly the first time. But would they really just allow him to move back here out of nowhere?" She turns to Morgana as she asks. 

Morgana answers with a sigh first, before speaking. "Most likely yes. Like I told Futaba and Haru yesterday. His parents have said practically nothing to him since he came home. It's almost like they don't even see him as their son anymore." 

Nobody draws attention to it when Ryuji's face drops into a scowl and clenches his fist almost hard enough to draw blood. "Boss already said he can take this room back yeah?" Futaba nods quickly. "So all we need to do to get him back here is to make sure that he's enrolled." He looks up at Makoto as he finishes. "Sorry. Don't mean to put more pressure on you about that." 

Makoto shakes her head kindly. "No, no it's alright. You're correct after all. Except for one thing, Sojiro would need to be legally in charge of him again like he was when Akira was here on probation. Or else it'd be difficult to get him enrolled."

Futaba laughs slightly and stands up. "Ha! Piece of cake." With that she walks towards the stairs and heads down into the cafe. She's down there for a few minutes before walking up with a smile on her face. "See? Problem solved. All we'd need to do now is to get documents or whatever ready." They all stare at her for a few seconds, waiting for her to give an explanation. She sighs and drops back next to Ryuji. "I asked Sojiro if he would become Akira's legal guardian again, if we sort everything else out. Didn't take much to get him to agree." 

Haru turns to Makoto when Futaba finishes. "Your sister would be able to sort that out for us correct? I believe she owes Akira, after he agreed to get arrested on Christmas, does she not?" 

Makoto turns to the CEO with a small nod. "You're right. I'll ask her tonight to see if she'll help us." 

It isn't long until they've decided on their plan of action and are ready to carry it out. As the the Thieves start heading home, Ann links her arm with Ryuji. "You've known him longer than all of us Ryuji. You know how strong he is." 

Ryuji nods as she leads him out of Leblanc. "I know, Ann. But I also know how bad he is at taking care of himself. I once watched him walk out of Mementos still bleeding, while using his Persona to heal somebody else's injuries. And don't even get me started on how he ignored his own real world injuries from the interrogation room, to focus on Shido's Palace." 

Ann nods her head as they head for the train station. "I know, Ryuji. But we're going to help him. Enough of his self sacrificing bullshit." 

Ryuji laughs a little, before nodding at her. "You're right Ann. I just hope his shitty parents don't put up a fight about him coming back here. But from what Morgana told us, it doesn't sound like they will." Ann hums softly in agreement. "But that's not a problem for today."

Ann nods at him, as they get on the train. "Exactly. Today's problem is whether or not Sae will be able to help us or not." 

They spend the rest of the journey in silence. When Ann's stop comes up, she hugs Ryuji goodbye and leaves the train. As the train jolts into motion again, Ryuji pulls his phone out, looking at the photos they took on Akira's last day in Tokyo. While they were driving him back to Inaba. Looking at them now, Ryuji wonders how they didn't notice it earlier. In all of the pictures Akira is front and centre, he's all smiles and it looks like nothing is wrong. But there are a few with Akira off to the side or out of focus. In those ones he looks almost lost. 

Lost isn't exactly the right term to use, but Ryuji isn't the smartest so he can't think of a more fitting word to use. But Akira is staring out the window a far away look in his eyes. Or staring at another person in the van with a small smile on his face. But he doesn't look happy. It's like he wants to be happy, but something is getting in the way. Ryuji is still beating himself up for not noticing, as he gets off the train and walk to his apartment. 

Michiko is home when he gets there. She mustn't have been back for long though as she's still in her uniform. "Hey, Yuji. I thought you were with your friends?" 

Ryuji nods his head a little bit. "I was but, we all split off pretty quickly." He stares at his mum for a few seconds. "Hey mum. How did I act when dad left?" 

Michiko's tired smile drops quickly, being replaced instead by a cautious stare. "What's brought this on, Ryuji? Is everything okay?" 

Ryuji goes to nod his head before shaking it. "Not really." When his mums smile drops further he backtracks quickly to explain. "No! Sorry. Everything's okay with me. But we're worried about Akira. He hasn't responded to anyone since he got home, no texts or calls. Well I'm worried that Akira's parents have conditioned him into being silent. At least from what Morgana has told us, that's what it sounds like." 

Michiko frowns at her son slightly. She hasn't met Akira yet, but Ryuji never shut up about him when they first met so she knows a fair bit about him. Like how he was treated unfairly by life as well as them. But in the form of a criminal record. But Akira fixed her little boy, so no matter what the media said about him, there was no way anyone who makes her Ryuji smile like that could be a bad person. "You were quiet, I suppose. Not in the literal sense, but you took longer to respond to calls of your name. But you were quick to anger and seemed to think it was your fault he'd left us. You didn't snap out of that behaviour until that horrible teacher provoked you." She frowns at the memory of his broken leg. "From then on you were loud, got angry at everything and were prone to hitting things in frustration." When Ryuji opens his mouth to apologise, she shakes her head. "It's not needed. You never hit me, nor did I ever think you would. You were just a teenager dealing with something horrible in the only way you knew. I know that sounds horrible but it's true. While you're still loud and quick to anger now. It takes a lot more for you to become violent. And even then you've only ever hit things like a couch or a cushion. Maybe a few loud yells. You're too kind to hurt anyone, Ryuji." 

Ryuji smiles a little before shaking his head. "So that might be what's happening to Akira?" When Michiko nods her head slowly he scowls at the wall behind her. 

She takes a few steps forwards and places a hand on his shoulder. "Why are you asking me this? What are you planning to do about it?" 

Ryuji looks back to his mum. "We're going to try and bring him back to Tokyo. He needs to get away from Inaba for one reason or another. We came up with a plan today, among the seven of us. But we're just waiting to see how the first bit plays out." As he speaks, his phone goes off. Makoto is messaging the group. Unlocking his phone he stares at the screen waiting for her to send her text. He skims it quickly before letting out a cheer. Michiko takes a quick step back from him, he practically yelled right down her ear. He looks up at her with a sheepish smile. "Sorry mum. But the first part of our plan has gone through. Makoto's sis is gonna help us get Sojiro as his legal guardian again. Which means the rest of us can go through with the other parts of the plan." 

Michiko smiles down at her son. "I'm glad everything's going to plan, Yuji. Now, how does some food sound?" 

Ryuji smiles at her widely. "I'll come and help. I've got nothing to do for this part right now anyway. Makoto needs to get him re-enrolled in the school now." Michiko nods her head and leads the two of them into their small kitchen. 

It takes 2 weeks for their plan to fall into place. It took longer than expected for Shujin to accept him back as a student. But they agreed in the end when Makoto reminded them that Akira was getting top scores practically his whole time in the school, and took the top spot multiple times. Which would in the end be beneficial for them. They didn't put up much of a fight after that, and told her that they would enrol him again if he had a guardian within Tokyo. 

With his place in the school secured, the only thing left was to get Akira to agree to coming to Tokyo. Which is where Ryuji comes in. Him and Futaba are taking the train down to Inaba in a few days to talk to Akira and his parents. Morgana staying at Leblanc, to help the thieves clean the attic for Akira's arrival. Well he can't actually do any cleaning, he's mainly staying there so the thieves can translate while he lets Sojiro in on how Akira is fairing. 

The day of their trip comes quickly, and soon enough the two of them are on an 8am train to Inaba, which should get them to the station by early afternoon. Futaba spends most of the journey asleep, which doesn't surprise Ryuji all that much. Keeping an eye on Futaba, who's sat beside him, he pulls his phone out. He downloaded a couple new games on his phone to keep himself occupied on the long trip there. An hour into the journey Futaba wakes up with a jolt. "Hey, you alright?" 

Futaba nods her head slightly. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. It's just...." She shakes her head slightly. "No. No it's nothing. Don't worry about it." 

Ryuji stares at her for a few seconds, before nodding his head in reluctant acceptance. "Alright. Well, we've still got at about 4 hours until we pull up in Inaba. So feel free to go back to sleep." 

Futaba nods her head, before pulling her phone out. She unlocks it and checks through her apps and files for a few seconds before nodding. "I'll do that." She leans back in her seat a little more. She sits like that for a few minutes, before sitting back up. She stares out the window for a few seconds, before looking back up at Ryuji. "I'm worried about what we'll see when we get to Akira's." 

Ryuji gives her a shaky smile as he nods his head. "I am too, Futaba. I am too." She stares at him for a few more seconds before pulling her phone out. She pulls up Akira's contact and scrolls through all the messages she sent that didn't get read. 

She frowns a little before looking up at Ryuji again. "He didn't even open our messages. And Mona said that he's barely been eating. I.... I can't be sure of course, but I think he might be depressed." The 'again' went unsaid, but heard loud and clear by the both of them. Neither of them needed to be reminded of how Akira shut himself off after the events of the interrogation room. He wasn't quite bad enough to say he was depressed, but he was certainly bordering being bad enough to have the Doctor he had befriended to ask them to keep an eye on him. Which they tried to do but it was difficult when he wouldn't talk to them. Ryuji can't say anything to make her feel better. Not when he himself is worried about the same thing. "There's something else I'm worried about, but I can't prove it at the minute." 

Ryuji nudges her with his shoulder. "Not like I'm gonna demand proof from ya. Why don't you tell me?" 

She hesitates for a second, looking through her phone again before turning back to Ryuji. "I've been hearing my Persona's voice again." Ryuji just stares at her for a few seconds. "See this is why I didn't want to tell anyone." 

Ryuji snaps out of his daze quickly. "Sorry. Just, if you really are hearing your Persona again. Then don't that mean the Metaverse is back? Or could be coming back?" 

Futaba nods head slightly, pulling on her headphones. "It does. And Akira seems to be acting how I was when I had a Palace. But like I said I don't have any proof, it could be nothing and I'm just wishing I could still hear my Persona." 

Ryuji shakes his head slightly. "No, I believe you Futaba. But shit, if Akira really does have a Palace what are we meant to do about it. The Nav ain't on our phones anymore. We wouldn't be able to enter his Palace." 

Futaba hums in disagreement as she pockets her phone. "Not necessarily. I said I'd only been hearing Necronomicon. I still can't feel them. But even being able to hear them could be a sign that the Metaverse is going to come back. Which should mean that the Nav will appear on our phones again." She stares out the window again for a few seconds. "What I'm worried about though, is that Akira got the app first. Meaning that if the Metaverse is coming back. He'd probably be the first to know." 

Ryuji stares at her for a few seconds before catching up. "And if we become the Phantom Thieves again, the rule of everyone agreeing on a target would come back too. And Akira would never agree for us to enter his Palace. So our only 2 options would be, to let it be and watch as he slowly destroys himself from the inside out. Or ignore that rule, and lose his trust by targeting his Palace anyway." 

Futaba nods solemnly. "Exactly. You caught on quick for once." Ryuji scowls at her for a few seconds but doesn't actually make a comment. 

They sit in silence for a long while after that. Both trying to imagine what it would be like to lose Akira's trust. Neither of them like the idea. Because neither of them can imagine what it's like to live when Akira doesn't trust them anymore. 

Futaba hates the idea of losing her big brother. 

Ryuji hates the idea of losing his best friend. His heart tells him that that's not all there is to it. But he doesn't want to admit it when his best friend is hurting. 

They spend the next two and a half hours sitting in silence. Both inside their own heads. In the end, it's unsurprisingly Ryuji who breaks the silence. "How do you think his parents treated him before all this?" 

Futaba looks up at him, thinking for a few seconds before shrugging. "I don't know. But I doubt they were like my mum. I don't think they've ever hurt him, at least not physically. But I don't think that they're all that loving. It's probably why Akira was so quiet even before all this radio silence we're receiving." 

Once she's done speaking, Ryuji pulls his phone out. Pulling his chat with Akira. He's been texting him almost everyday, in the vain hopes that Akira would answer one of them. Any of them. But he hasn't. As he stares down at his screen the messages stare back at him. He locks his phone with a scowl and turns to Futaba. "Yeah, you're probably right. Do you know what his parents do by the way? I always wanted to ask but he didn't like talking about them." 

Futaba nods almost immediately with a small laugh. "Hehehe, of course I do." She reaches into her pocket to pull out her phone. "Kiyoko and Noritaka Kurusu, mother and father of one Akira Kurusu. Kiyoko works at the top of a high level office." 

"A manager?" 

Futaba clicks her fingers, turning it into a finger gun pointing at Ryuji. "That's the word! Anyway, she works as an office manager. She seems to have a no nonsense attitude towards the people who work under her. Any problems that come up within her workers are sorted out within a day or two. Usually ending up with one or more, sometimes even all of the involved parties getting fired." She scrolls past her research on Akira's mum, down to her research on his dad. "Noritaka, was interesting to research. He studied law for a little under a year in university. Trained to become a police officer when he was 21. But quit before he finished the training. After that he tried to get a job in the courts. He applied for 2 different jobs but didn't get accepted for either of them. After that, he changed course completely and worked his way up to being on the board of directors of a large, but boring, company. Like his wife, he too has a no nonsense attitude towards the companies workers. All of his public stances towards scandals or further development of the company have caused some level of annoyance among the workers of the company as none of them seem to show any care towards them." As she finishes reading off her results, she stuffs her phone back in her pocket. 

Ryuji takes a few seconds to try and absorb all the information he was just given. "They seem like the type of people who don't care about people's feelings." Futaba nods slightly. "So let's hope they accept the facts, which are that their son is miserable and being there is putting him at risk of hurting himself." 

Futaba nods again. "Lets also hope that they care about that. Or else our job gets a lot more difficult." Ryuji lets out a huff as he nods his head. 

The train pulls in to Inaba's small and only station an hour and a half later. They pause slightly when they exit the station. Both unsure how Akira will react to them just turning up at his house. And how his parents will react.

They take a few minutes outside the station to steel their resolves. They're determined to help Akira, whether he wants it or not. "Ready to go Futaba?" 

The hacker nods silently and takes a few steps away from the station. "What are you waiting for? Come on already." She snickers slightly as Ryuji glares at her, but he falls into step with her none the less. 

It takes much longer than they fought it would for them to see another person. Akira had told Ryuji that there's nothing in his hometown before, but he hadn't quite realised how serious he was being. Ryuji looks down at Futaba as he feels her latch on to his coat sleeve. "Sorry. I never really got good being around people without Akira." 

Ryuji nods slightly, allowing her to keep her hold on his coat. "Well you must be doing something right because you managed to start school again." Futaba looks up at him with a smile before looking away again. They're nearing in on Akira's house and she's getting worried about the chance of her having to talk to his parents. From her research they don't seem like the type to care about people with social issues. But she'll power through it if it means repaying her debt to Akira. 

Ryuji is the one to knock on the door. Kiyoko is the one to answer it. She stares at them for a few seconds, with a raised eyebrow. "Who are you?" 

Futaba takes a step behind Ryuji. "We're friends of your son." She nods her head slightly, like it hadn't crossed her mind he would have made friends at all. 

She hasn't taken her hand off the door, ready to close it at any second. "And what do you want with me?" 

Futaba takes her appearance in. Akira must have gotten his height from somewhere else because the woman in front of them is quite short. But she's definitely Akira's mother. Her hair is the same curly midnight black as her sons, albeit much longer, stopping halfway down her back. "We're here to talk to you and your husband actually." 

Kiyoko raises her eyebrows again, both of them this time. She stares at them for a few seconds before opening the door further and stepping out of the way. "I suppose you should come in then." She closes the door behind them once they enter the house. She leads them into a living room before she turns back to them. "I'll go get my husband from the study." 

The two of them stand awkwardly in the living room, looking around. There are a few pictures on the wall. Most of them are other family members. One of them is of Kiyoko and Noritaka's wedding. There aren't any pictures of Akira, Ryuji assumes they were taken down after his arrest. 

Kiyoko enters the room again with her husband in tow. But it's Noritaka who talks. "Kiyoko tells me you're friends of our son and that you have some business with us." 

Ryuji nods his head. "We do." Noritaka takes a seat on the couch behind him, Kiyoko sitting down beside him. 

He gestures for the two of them to take a seat. "I assume it's to do with our son, what's he done now?" 

The two teens frown at the adults in front of them, but refrain from saying anything about it. "He hasn't done anything. We came here instead to get you to agree to him moving back to Tokyo." Their eyes widen at the statement. 

"Why would we agree to that?" Kiyoko turns to her husband as he talks. 

Ryuji does scowl at the two this time. "Because quite frankly you don't seem to give a damn about your son." Noritaka's eyes twitch in anger, but it seems to be more at Ryuji's tone than his words which just cement their points even more. Ryuji opens his back and holds out the stack of papers that Sae had prepared for them. "Sign these and Akira will be under Sojiro's protection again." 

Kiyoko stares at them for a few seconds before looking at the teens. "Why would we sign those?" At that moment a door opens from somewhere else in the house. Ryuji and Futaba turn to look down the corridor, a few seconds later Akira walks down the hallway. He looks terrible, his hair probably hasn't met a brush in days, he has huge bags under his eyes and he seems to have lost weight. From the looks of him it's definitley more than a healthy amount. The teen looks between his parents and his friends, rubs his eyes before turning back around. Muttering under his breath that he's seeing things, or must still be asleep.

They sit in silence as Akira walks back down the hallway. The silence doesn't break until Akira's door closes again. Futaba looks away from the hallway to Ryuji. He gives her a small nod before turning back to his friends parents. He slams the papers down on the coffee table as Futaba stands up and moves for the hallway. "Sign the papers." Neither of them make a move. "Sign the damn papers. It would be easy for us to get a case made against you for negligent parenting. And from your treatment of Akira after his sentencing I can assume you don't want that. If you sign the papers we'll take him and leave. You can go about your lives like all this never happened." Reaching into his bag again he pulls out a pen and holds it out to them. Before either of the two can reach for the pen, Futaba shouts from down the hall. Ryuji stands up quickly before turning his gaze back to the adults. "You better sign those damn papers." With that he runs down the hallway to where Futaba had yelled. 

He slams the door open to see Futaba grabbing on to Akira's arm. "What happened?" He looks between the two hoping for an answer. 

Akira is the one to talk. "I don't know what you two are doing here, but you should leave while you still can. Morgana finally took the chance, he left last week. I don't even know what happened to him, but I suppose that's for the best." Futaba is still holding on to Akira's arm. Pulling it towards herself. 

He takes the scene in properly, watching as Akira tries to tug his arm away from Futaba's grip. It's then that he notices the knife in Akira's hand. Ryuji jumps forwards to take it from him. "What the hell, man? What are you doing?" 

Akira tries to reach for the knife with his other hand but Ryuji steps away. "Give me my knife back Ryuji." Ryuji shakes his head fiercely, hiding it behind his back, further from Akira's grasp. "You shouldn't be here anyway." Ryuji frowns at him worriedly, Futaba tightens her grip on his arm.

Akira looks between the two before looking down at Futaba. He lifts his free arm reaching for Futaba, Ryuji lets him, knowing Akira would never hurt Futaba. Even if he thinks she isn't real. He hovers his hand above Futaba's head before patting it gently. Ryuji watches them in surprise, but the younger teen squeezes Akira's arm slightly. He pats her once more, leaving his hand on her head as a few tears escape his eyes. He looks from Futaba to Ryuji, before dropping his head to stare at the floor. "Why.... why are you both here?" He drops to the floor before either of them can answer, Futaba being pulled with him because of her grip on his arm. 

Ryuji stares down sadly at his friend and kneels in front of him. "We're here to help you Akira." He draws his gaze to Futaba who is staring sadly at Akira with tears in her eyes. "Will you explain everything to him? I'm going to make sure his parents have signed." Futaba nods slightly as Akira looks up to Ryuji. Ryuji gives the teen a soft smile. "We're bringing you back with us, Kira. Let Futaba explain everything okay?" Akira looks between the two before nodding. Ryuji gives him another smile before standing up and going back to the living room. 

The two look up at him when he walks back into the room. He looks straight down at the papers. Happy to see them signed. He flips through it all for a few seconds, making sure they've signed in all the right places. He nods towards the two, carefully stuffing them back into his bag. "We'll be out of your hair in two hours max. Then you'll never hear from us again." With that he pulls his bag on and turns back to the hallway. 

When he gets back to Akira's room, he sees that Futaba is helping him drag a brush through all the knots in his hair. Ryuji smiles at the two before stepping into the room properly. "Hey Akira, she explained it all yeah?" Akira nods at him. "Well, they signed so you better get packing. Cause we're heading out in a couple hours." He nods again before looking around his room. 

When all of the important stuff is packed, Akira looks around his room again. He stares at it all for a few seconds before walking past Ryuji and out of his room. The remaining teens stare at each other for a few seconds before following the raven out. 

They find him in the living room staring at his parents. "Why would we do that? As I'm sure your friends told you you're not our problem anymore."

Akira stares at his parents for a few more seconds. "Face it I was never your problem. But that doesn't matter anymore. And to answer your question, you should do it because you have no need for any of it anyway. Keeping it would take up useful space in your house. And selling it would lead to unwanted questions that neither of you want to answer. Sending it to Leblanc however, raises no strange questions directed towards the two of you. The only questions that could be asked is why your sending it away which is solved with the simple answer of telling them I moved out." He stares down his parents as they take in the information. 

Kiyoko is the one to relent. "Very well. It will be sent within the week. Now I hope apart from what we're sending that your all packed up because your two hours are over." Akira nods silently before turning around and walking back to his room. Ryuji and Futaba watch him leave for a few seconds. Amazed at what just happened.

Ryuji runs to catch up with him. "What was that about?" 

Akira turns to the blonde with a shrug. "I convinced them to send the rest of my things to Leblanc. We ready to go?" Ryuji nods at him in response, watching as Akira picks up 2 of his 3 bags. Ryuji picks up the third bag, without even thinking about it. 

They make it to the station in silence. Akira's parents don't even say goodbye to him when he leaves, they were no longer in the living room either. Ryuji and Futaba give each other worrying looks as Akira silently leaves the two of them to buy a ticket. He doesn't say anything when he gets back to them, silently following them to the platform. 

Futaba pulls her phone out as they get onto the train. Shooting off a text into the group chat telling the others that they're on their way back and should be at Leblanc just before 10pm. Barely before the trains stop running. The responses pour in quickly informing her that they'll suffer through an uncomfortable night of sleep to see Akira back at Leblanc again. Futaba smiles at her phone before putting it away. She looks over to the boys to tell them that the Thieves are waiting at Leblanc for them, only to find Akira half asleep. Ryuji is having a quiet argument with him trying to get him to sleep. Akira finally gives up when his eyes droop again, allowing his head to rest on Ryuji's shoulder and close his eyes. Instead of talking, she opens the notes on her phone and types out what Ryuji needs to know, before holding it up to Ryuji. The blonde scans the note quickly before nodding his head with a small smile. 

With Ryuji told the others are waiting at the cafe, she opens the chat again, to see that the other Thieves are asking about Akira. She frowns a little as her gaze travels back to the teen in question. She warns them in advance that he doesn't look great, and he may say some harsh things to them when they arrive. But not to blame him for it, because his parents were the ones to create that attitude. As a sad acceptance rolls in from the thieves, she asks them to warn Sojiro as well. Knowing that when Akira is in his right mind again, he wouldn't forgive himself for being rude to Sojiro. Especially when he only wants to help. They agree quickly, before Makoto asks if there is anything else they should be aware of before they get here. Futaba thinks for a few seconds before replying. 

**Futaba:** I'm not too sure. Honestly just be ready for anything. He looks like he could pass out at any time. 

**Futaba:** But I think it's mostly going to be him questioning why your all there. 

**Ann:** What do you mean? Has something happened?

**Futaba:** Well.... when we were talking to his parents, he walked in and looked at us before turning around muttering that he was seeing things or maybe he was still asleep. I ran after him after he went back to his room and.... it wasn't a great sight.

**Haru:** Why, what did you see Futaba? 

**Futaba:** It's not my place to say, so I won't. But when Ryuji entered the room Akira looked between the two of us before telling us we should leave while we 'still could'. Telling us that Mona had already taken the chance and it's for the best that he doesn't know where he's gone. It took him a minute before accepting that we were really there, he fell to the floor crying.

**Ann:** Akira.... 

**Yusuke:** He must indeed be having a hard time for him to have cried in front of you. I don't believe he's ever shown us such an emotion before. 

**Futaba:** Of course he's having a hard time Inari! You weren't there but he isn't doing well right now.

**Makoto:** Well then all we have to do is help him through it, right guys? 

**Ann:** Of course!

**Yusuke:** Indeed.

**Haru:** It's time we repay his kindness to us.

**Ryuji:** Yo, can one of you ask Morgana about Akira's sleeping habits these past months? 

It takes a few minutes for a reply to come in, but he does get one. 

**Haru:** Mona says that Akira seemed to stay up as long as he could most days, as if he were avoiding going to sleep. Either that or he would come in from school and collapse straight onto his bed.

**Haru:** May I ask why you needed this information, Ryuji? 

**Futaba:** I think I know, but it's something we should talk about face to face. Not today though. Away from Akira. 

The responses are mostly confused acceptance. Only Ann asks why Akira can't be there. But when she doesn't get a response from either of them, she accepts that it's important that Akira doesn't know and accepts as well. Futaba puts her phone away after that. Content to sit in silence while Akira sleeps beside her. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Nav is back and the Thieves enter Akira's Palace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot of texting in this chapter, sorry about that

When they pull into the station, Akira wordlessly pulls his bag back on and follows his friends out of the train. They got of at Yongen Jaya so they walk back to Leblanc. Akira trails behind them slowly, his eyes snapping from shadow to shadow, like he's expecting someone to jump out of one of them. Ryuji stops them before the turn the corner next to the cafe. "The others are waiting for us inside. Just.... try not to flip on them okay?"

Akira frowns at the blonde. He knows he was rude to them earlier, but it's their own fault. They shouldn't have bothered coming back for him, it's not like anyone needs him anymore. But he doesn't say any of that, he simply nods his head. Still silent. Ryuji stares at him for a few seconds more before nodding his head and turning around. 

Futaba pulls on his arm slightly, as Ryuji walks away. She stares at him for a few seconds trying to word her question correctly, before shaking her head. "I know you're probably not up for seeing anybody. But they're just here for the night. We were all worried about you. So just power through it for tonight, okay?" Akira stares at her for a few seconds. She's pretty sure she sees a flash of confusion cross his face, but before she can comment on it he's nodding in agreement. "Let's go then. Me and Sojiro will be there the whole time okay? If it gets to much just say the word and we'll figure something out." That gets a small smile from him, but it drops quickly as Futaba pulls him after Ryuji. 

Sojiro and the Thieves are waiting eagerly in the cafe, Ryuji waiting outside the door for them to catch up. As they turn the corner Ryuji turns to the door and opens it. Before any of the Thieves can do anything, Ryuji pulls the papers out of his bag and places them onto the counter in front of Sojiro. "He's all yours, Boss." Sojiro grins at the blonde before pulling the papers off the counter and placing them under neath away from anything that could spill on them. 

When Futaba pulls Akira into the cafe, everyone takes a second to stare at him. Which causes Akira to fold in on himself. Noticing his response to the unwanted attention, he lives with Futaba after all, he draws the attention away from the teens appearance. For now, at least. He promises to make sure he eats a full meal once his friends have gone tomorrow. Maybe get Takemi to take a look at him if Akira isn't stubborn about it. "Welcome back, Kid." Akira looks up from the floor with a small smile on his face. And Sojiro has never understood the groups hatred of adults as much as he did in that one moment. He's never seen the raven look so small and unsure of himself, not even when he first got to Tokyo or when he first got arrested.

Morgana is the first of them to greet him. Jumping on to his shoulder and rubbing his cheek against Akira's. "I'm sorry for leaving you, Akira. But I couldn't give you the help you needed on my own." The teen just nods his head slightly, as Morgana apologises. 

The other teens quickly pull Akira into a hug. Futaba pulls out of the hug for a few seconds to lean against the counter. She gestures for Sojiro to lean down to her. "I promised Akira that if it gets too much for him we'd figure out a way or reason to send them home." 

Sojiro glances up at Akira, in the middle of his friends looking unsure and tired. He looks back down to his daughter with a nod. "I'll keep an eye out as well. If I think it's gotten too much I'll get them out." Futaba smiles at him happily, it growing slightly when he pats her on the head. She returns to the hug and squeezes herself through the group to latch onto Akira's waist. 

After a few more seconds, they break the hug instead sitting down in the booths. Futaba and Ryuji don't leave his side, taking the seat next to and across from him when he slides into the end of the booth. The other teens pile into the 3 seats left at the table, while Ann and Makoto take 2 seats from the booth in front. Yusuke takes his usual seat beside the table on a normal chair. 

It isn't long before everyone is talking to each other. No one forces Akira to talk, allowing him to listen in instead. 

When Akira starts fidgeting and trying to push himself as close to the wall as possible without drawing the others attention, Sojiro decides enough is enough and draws the teens attention. "Alright. As much as I hate to do this, I think Akira needs some sleep. I'll sort out everyone's transport home." Their eyes flicker to Akira for a few seconds before nodding. As everyone starts standing up Akira looks up to Sojiro in thanks. Sojiro just nods his head before turning to the Thieves. "Right. Where do you all need to go?" 

Haru holds her hand up slightly. "I wouldn't wish to put you out of pocket after you so graciously allowed us to take over your cafe again. I can ask my driver to pick me up, and take the others home." 

Sojiro sighs slightly. "If that's okay with you, that would be much appreciated." Haru nods softly before grabbing her phone off of the table to contact her driver. 

A little over 20 minutes later and Haru informs them that her driver is outside. They each give Akira their own goodbye before following Haru out the door. Ryuji a little more reluctantly than the others, but he does follow them out so that only the Sakura's and Morgana remain in the cafe. Sojiro plates up a serving of curry and places it in front of Akira, before ushering Futaba out the door. "I'll be back tomorrow. Try and get some sleep." Akira nods at him slightly, before eyeing the plate of curry, unsure of how much he'll be able to stomach. Futaba calls Morgana over as the door closes behind them, Akira stares at the two for a second before shrugging. He hears Sojiro lock the door behind them and heaves a small sigh when the cafe is finally empty. 

He just wants to be left alone. He isn't worth dragging back to Tokyo, and he isn't worth caring about. A few tears drop onto the table and Akira realises that he might hate himself but he shouldn't waste Sojiro's food. He picks up his spoon and eats as much of it as he can stomach, which honestly isn't very much, before getting rid of the rest and washing the plate up. 

A few more tears escape his eyes when he gets upstairs and realises that the others spent their own time fixing his room back up while they waited for him to return. He doesn't bother putting any of his things away right now, instead collapsing onto the mattress in the corner of the room. 

As Akira starts falling asleep, Futaba is asking Sojiro for his help. She stands in front of him in the kitchen, hands folded in front of her, with Morgana on the counter next to her. "Okay, so you remember how I had a Palace last year? While all the Phantom Thief stuff was going on?" Sojiro nods his head slowly, not liking where he thinks this conversation is going. "Well.... I can't be completely sure obviously, but I think the Metaverse might be coming back and if it does I fear Akira may be the one with the Palace this time." She ignores Morgana confused shout from beside her. 

Sojiro frowns at the information. "I assume you're telling me this for a reason outside of the fact that he's under my care now?" 

Futaba nods firmly. "I am. If the Metaverse does come back, I have a bad feeling Akira would be the first one to know. But I don't think he'll be as aware of it as he should be if he does have a Palace." She shakes her head slightly, forcing herself back on track. "What I'm trying to say, is that I fear Akira will start distancing from us again, despite being back in Tokyo. I'm asking you to keep an eye on him, because...." She frowns and looks away from Sojiro, not completely sure she wants to tell him about Akira trying to hurt himself. 

Sojiro places a hand on his shoulder. "Because what, Futaba?" 

She forces her head up. It's not her place to tell anyone that Akira has been hurting himself. But it will help Sojiro keep an eye on him if he knows. "Because.... because when me and Ryuji appeared in his house and he thought we weren't real, he tried to hurt himself. I grabbed his arm to stop him. When Ryuji grabbed the knife out of his other hand and he tried to reach for it. His sleeve fell down his arm, there were already scars there." 

Sojiro stares at her in shock, as does Morgana. "Is he okay to be on his own right now?" 

Futaba shakes her head a little. "I don't know. But he knows I have mics and cameras set up in Leblanc. I think even in his current state he's smart enough to remember and realise I could be listening in. Not only would that force me to get at least you or Ryuji, which he wouldn't want. I genuinely don't think he'd take the risk of me hearing or seeing him hurt himself. Not even in his current state." Sojiro nods his head slowly. "But, I need you to promise me you'll look after him. I'm going to warn the others about it in a minute. But you're most likely going to be one of the only people he'll speak to or at least be around." 

Sojiro tilts his head slightly. "Why? I'm not exactly the nicest person around." 

Futaba turns to Morgana and runs a hand through his fur. "Like I told you before. Akira is smart and will most likely be the first to realise if slash when the Metaverse comes back. You can't enter the Metaverse meaning you can't enter his Palace either. He'll feel safe around you. Or at least safer than he would around us." 

He nods his head in agreement. "Alright. I'll keep a close eye on him then." With that Futaba picks Morgana up and starts walking towards her room. "Oh and Futaba." She turns to face him slightly. "I know it mustn't have been easy to tell me that he's hurting himself. But thank you." She doesn't respond other than a nod of her head, still feeling slightly bad about her decision before heading into her room. 

She drops Morgana onto her bed, before turning back to close the door. "Were you going to tell me you think the Metaverse is back? Or why you think that for that matter?" 

Futaba sighs and drops onto her chair, turning it to face Morgana. "I can hear my Persona again. Have been able to for a little while now. Maybe a week or two." She turns slightly to place her phone on her desk. "And I was going to tell you at some point. But it didn't become important until I saw Akira. I'm almost convinced that he has a Palace." She turns around to face her computers. 

Morgana jumps off of her bed, to sit on her desk and face her. "Why are you so sure? Persona users can't have a Palace you should know that." 

Futaba nods her head slightly. "I do know that. But right now we're not Persona users are we? So technically there's nothing stopping him from having a Palace. If the Metaverse were to reappear when his heart is in such a state, surely a Palace would form before his Persona could come back." She taps the desk a few times. "Maybe not having access to the Metaverse would have corrupted his Persona so that he is capable of having a Palace. It makes sense in a way, and it's not like my mum or anyone else did any research onto the topic." 

Morgana nods his head slightly. "I suppose that does all make sense yeah. Are you going to tell the others?" 

Futaba nods as she picks her phone up. "I was going to do it face to face. But Akira is in a worse state than I thought he was, he couldn't handle being around the others for more than an hour and a half. That's abnormal. Normally he's great with people, even when he just wants to be alone for a little bit." 

**Futaba:** Is everyone at home now?

 **Haru:** Yes, we just dropped Ryuji off and I'm on my way home now. Why?

 **Futaba:** Because I have something to tell you all. 

**Futaba:** I was going to do it face to face, but I think it's important to tell you as soon as possible instead. 

**Ann:** Tell us what?

 **Yusuke:** Is it about Akira?

 **Futaba:** In a way

 **Ryuji:** Is it what you told me about this morning?

Morgana looks up at her quickly. "You told Ryuji and not me!?" 

Futaba glares at him slightly. "He was there when I was thinking about it okay? And is it really that important who I told first?" Morgana lowers his head, chastised. 

**Futaba:** Yeah

 **Makoto:** What's wrong, Futaba? 

**Futaba:** I'm just going to come straight out with it. I think the Metaverse is coming back

 **Futaba:** And I think Akira has a Palace.... 

**Ann:** What!? Even if it is coming back, I thought Mona said Persona users couldn't have a Palace?

 **Futaba:** We shouldn't be able to under usual circumstances. But we're not Persona users anymore. So technically, even if it is coming back. There's nothing stopping him from having one.

 **Yusuke:** I suppose it makes sense....

 **Makoto:** What do you mean, Yusuke? 

**Yusuke:** Looking at it logically, it makes sense. We have never received such silence from our Leader. Not even on his busiest days. He always found time to respond even if he couldn't accept whatever invitation he was given. 

**Haru:** I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but what can we do about his possible Palace if we no longer have access to the Metaverse?

 **Futaba:** That shouldn't be much of a problem. I've been hearing my Persona's voice lately. It's difficult to make out what it was saying. But I've been thinking about it and it seems to be along the lines of 'coming back'

 **Ann:** It can't have been referring to Akira because you *brought* him back. So it must be about the Metaverse. Meaning the app should follow, right? 

**Futaba:** Exactly 

**Makoto:** Hold on, why are you the only one to be hearing their Persona if the Metaverse is coming back? Surely we'd all be hearing ours. 

**Ryuji:** I mean she was our Navigator right? So maybe her Persona is just at the head of the pack?

 **Futaba:** That's actually along the lines of what I was thinking. I'm impressed. 

**Ann:** That actually would make sense. I'm surprised Ryuji figured it out though

 **Ryuji:** Hey! what's that supposed to mean?

 **Futaba:** As much as I'd love to tease Ryuji a little longer. That isn't the only thing he figured out regarding this whole scenario

 **Ryuji:** Oh yeah....

 **Makoto:** What do you mean? 

**Ryuji:** We had a rule bout targets didn't we? 

**Haru:** Oh, no....

 **Ann:** Akira would never agree to it....

 **Yusuke:** Which means we have only two options.

 **Makoto:** Either to leave the Palace be and risk it destroying the Akira we all know and love. 

**Haru:** Or we enter his Palace regardless of his wishes and steal his treasure.... 

**Futaba:** Exactly

 **Ryuji:** We can't just leave it to destroy him though! Not after everything he's been through. After everything he's done for *us*

 **Ann:** We know that Ryuji, but this.... this would mean destroying Akira's trust in us.

 **Ryuji:** You think I don't know that Ann?! But surely that's better than leaving him to die

 **Ann:** Hey! No one said he was dying Ryuji! 

**Futaba:** Actually.... If his Palace reaches such a state of decay it could possibly kill him.

 **Ann:** What?! 

**Futaba:** It was a piece of research my mum never got to finish. She was trying to research what would happen to someone after the natural death or decay of their cognitive world or Palace as we call them. 

**Ryuji:** Sorry Futaba, but I'm not too happy finishing this piece of your mums research

 **Futaba:** Me neither. Her Hypothesis was that upon the natural decay of a Palace. Which basically happens when the persons heart becomes so distorted that it starts destroying them. That it would destroy the worlds host. Meaning it would kill them

 **Ann:** We can't let that happen to Akira! Even if he doesn't trust us after this. Keeping his trust is not worth letting him die.

 **Haru:** I agree.

 **Yusuke:** Me too.

 **Makoto:** So we're all in agreement. When/if the Nav app comes back. We use it to enter Akira's Palace and steal his treasure. Morgana agrees as well yes? 

Futaba turns to the cat to find him already nodding his head. "I won't let him destroy himself." She smiles at him a little before looking back down to her phone.

 **Futaba:** He's in.

 **Makoto:** Then it's settled. As soon as the Nav appears on our phones, we check for Akira's name. If he does indeed have a   
Palace, we figure out his keywords and steal his treasure.

Futaba turns her phone off as the others each send a message of confirmation. She turns to Morgana with a small frown. "We're doing the right thing yeah? I mean, I know this will help Akira in the long run but...." 

Morgana stands up to stand in front of her. "I know going behind his back for something like this doesn't feel great, Futaba. But this is the right thing. We're going to help him, and once we have Akira will see that." 

Futaba nods her head slightly. "Yeah, yeah you're right Mona." She rubs a hand over his head, ruffling his fur. He doesn't yell for once, just glares at her as she continues messing up his fur. 

When Futaba wakes up the next morning, the first thing she does, is check her phone to se if any of the others have asked anything else about Akira. But before she can check her notifications, she sees the red icon at the bottom of her screen. She blinks a couple times before shooting up in her bed. She'd recognise the app anywhere. The Nav is back. Reaching for Morgana at the bottom of her bed, she shakes him awake. "Mona! Mona!" When the cat just grumbles in response she shakes him harder. "Morgana! Wake up!" 

Morgana finally opens his eyes and looks up at Futaba. "It's still early. Is something wrong?" She shakes her head fiercely and holds out her phone. 

"It's back. The Nav is back! Not only that but I can actually *feel* Necronomicon again!" She turns her phone around and messages the others. 

**Futaba:** Guys!

 **Futaba:** Guys wake up!

 **Ryuji:** What's wrong? 

**Futaba:** Check your phone! 

**Ryuji:** Alright give me a second.

 **Ann:** What's going on Futaba?

 **Futaba:** Check your phone

 **Ryuji:** !!

 **Ryuji:** No way! 

**Ann:** The Nav! It's back!

 **Makoto:** Really?

 **Ann:** Mhmm, check your phone.

 **Makoto:** It really is. 

**Ryuji:** I forgot how nice it was to feel Captain Kidd at the back of my head.

 **Ann:** Same here with Carmen. 

**Makoto:** We should meet up today once you get out of school to try and figure out his keywords.

 **Futaba:** Got it

 **Ann:** Sure thing

 **Ryuji:** Let's do it

 **Haru:** You're all up rather early.

 **Futaba:** The Nav is back, I figured I should let everyone know

 **Yusuke:** It is? That must be why I can once again feel Goemon's comforting presence. 

**Haru:** Now that you mention it Yusuke, I can feel Milady again.

 **Makoto:** We were planning to meet up today to figure out the keywords for Akira's Palace.

 **Makoto:** Does that work for you two? 

**Yusuke:** It does. We'll be meeting after school I presume? 

**Makoto:** That was the plan, yes.

 **Yusuke:** That works for me. Let me know where we are meeting up later.

 **Haru:** I'll be there as well.

Futaba's suspicions of Akira's behaviour was correct. When they meet up in front of her house after school, Ann tells them that Akira hasn't spoken all day unless he was called on. Didn't speak to Ann or anyone else and left as soon as the bell rang. The reformed Phantom Thieves, frown at the information. "I checked Akira's name in the Nav earlier." All heads swivel round to Futaba and she flinches slightly from the sudden attention, but continues anyway. "It was a hit." 

They stand in silence before Makoto speaks up. "Then it'll be easier to help him. All we can do for now is figure out his keywords." They each nod in turn, before Futaba holds her phone out. 

"Inaba." 

"No candidates found." 

"Shujin." 

"No candidates found." 

"Tokyo." 

"No candidates found." 

"Japan." 

"Candidate found." 

Everyone's head snaps up from the phone. Futaba stares at her phone as the other teens look around at each other. 

Ryuji lets out a breath. "Okay, now we need to figure out what he sees the country as." A few nods go around before they look back to Futaba.

No one speaks for a minute, unsure what someone like Akira would see the country as. Futaba lets out a small sigh as she pulls her phone back. "We can come back to it tomorrow, think about it some more tonight." 

"Prison." 

"Match found." 

Heads snap to look at Makoto, even as the world around them transforms into something else. "How did you get that?" 

Makoto pushes a strand of hair out of her face. "Think about it. We might have gotten him out, but he still went to prison. Japan is a country governed by law and people don't forget about criminal records. He's likely to be stuck with that label for the rest of his life, no matter where in Japan he goes." 

Ryuji lets out a breathy laugh. "That's our Makoto for ya." Makoto smiles at him slightly before Haru tugs on her sleeve. 

"Um, everyone? I think you should take a look at this." The Thieves turn to where Haru is pointing. And immediately wish they hadn't

Akira's Palace is a prison building, as they just learnt, but it has vines growing on the outside and parts of it are crumbling. Not to mention that everything outside of it is washed in shades of grey. Not a speck of colour in sight. Morgana takes a few steps towards it. "How long has he had this place? He still had his Persona when we destroyed the Metaverse. But this place is.... Decaying." 

The Thieves nod in response. "Let's find a way to enter. Cause I don't think we'll be able to get in through the front door." Makoto hums in agreement with Ryuji's assessment. 

Futaba scans the outside of the building. "What about up there? There's a broken window not covered in vines just in front of us." She holds her arm out to point to a window on the second floor. "That should be easy enough to enter through right?" The Thieves nod in agreement before walking towards it. 

Ann is the first one through the window, helping Haru and Makoto through before spotting Futaba staring at something outside, behind the boys. She's still staring even once the others are in, so Ann goes out to check on her. "Futaba? Are you alright?" 

The Navigator snaps out of her daze and turns to the blonde. "Sorry. I just thought I saw someone in that window."

Ann turns her head to the window Futaba is pointing to. "It might have been his Shadow. Come on, we should get inside before a shadow spots us. Futaba nods and allows Ann to help her through the window. 

Yusuke is waiting by the window for them, the others checking out the room they're in. "I suppose I'll ask the obvious question. Have you all noticed we've not transformed? Even after entering his Palace." 

Makoto looks down at her clothes for the first time. "You're right. I suppose it isn't out of the question though. After all we didn't change in Futaba's Palace until just before her Shadow tried to chase us out." 

From somewhere in the room, the Thieves can hear someone clapping. They look around for a few seconds, before Akira appears in the room. But his eyes are yellow, like the other Shadow's they fought last year. He stops clapping as all eyes fall on him, folding his arms over his chest instead. "Now. Care to tell me what you're doing here?" 

The Thieves stare at him for a few seconds in surprise. "What do you mean, what are we doing here? We're here to help you Man!" 

The Shadow just stares at Ryuji. As the Shadow stares him down, almost like he's sizing him up. The other Thieves take in his appearance. He looks so much like *their* Akira that the yellow eyes are jarring. He's wearing a prisoners outfit with a ball and chain wrapped around his leg. It drags behind him as he steps closer to the group. "You should escape while you can. After all, he doesn't want you lot here." 

Ann frowns at the Shadow. "Well too bad! We're going to help him whether he likes it or not." 

Shadow Akira frowns at her. "Very well." He takes a step backwards, the chain rattling along the floor. Two steps back he raises a hand and clicks. The Thieves transform as two shadows appear beside the cognitive Akira. "Get rid of them." As the Shadows lunge for the thieves, the cognition disappears. 

Ryuji swears a little as the first Shadow slams into him. "Captain Kidd!" The Pirate Persona appears behind him and Ryuji smiles as he feels a Mazio rip through him, electrifying his nerves again. 

One of the shadows drops to the ground, before Ann tries hitting the other with an Agidyne. It isn't weak to it, but it does burn it. Makoto calls Johanna to attack with a Frei. It hits with a technical and drops the shadow to the floor along with the other. She calls on Ryuji, Ann and Haru to surround them, before calling an all out attack. 

With the shadows destroyed, they take the room in again. Shadow Akira left as soon as he called the 2 shadows. For being a prison they don't seem to be in a cell. After all the window was made of weak glass, and there's no cell door. Just a regular wooden door in front of them, halfway open and slightly rotting. Morgana pushes the door open the rest of the way. The corridor is large and doors litter both sides of the wall. The Garu user waves the others over, getting the other Thieves to follow him out into the corridor. 

"We should check through these rooms. We might find something that could help us." Ann stares down the corridor, looking between all of the doors before looking back down at Morgana. "I know it's a lot of rooms. But this doesn't feel like it's going to be a regular Palace were we have to figure out our way through it." He looks up at Futaba who is in the middle of scanning something. "I think it'll be more like Futaba's where it's fairly straight forwards but with something preventing us from going further unless we figure out how to get past it." 

Futaba nods slightly. "I have to agree. My Palace was like that because I only knew my house so there wasn't much else that could influence it. But Shido's was similar as well and he was knowledgeable about the Metaverse. Akira knows Tokyo sure, but he's been spending a lot of time inside. And because of everything that happened last year Akira is now also knowledgeable about the Metaverse. So it would make sense. But I advice that we continue talking in a safe room instead of out of the open like this." 

Haru nods her head slightly. "I agree. Is there one here?" Futaba nods her head, reaching for the door on their left. 

"Right here." She opens the door before stopping. The inside of the safe room, is Leblanc. The other Thieves follow her in, before stopping as well. Unlike everywhere else in this Palace, the safe room is in colour. They can see Sojiro's blue fridge at the back of the small kitchen. All of the coffee beans that Akira learnt how to prepare. "Leblanc must be a safe space for him." 

Morgana jumps up on the table as the Thieves sit around it. "Okay, we'll take a minute or two in here to prepare, before we start exploring properly." The Thieves nods before melting into their seats. Getting ready to probe into their Leaders heart. And preparing themselves for whatever they might see. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shadow Akira talks to each of the Thieves individually.

Once the Thieves are ready, they get up from where they're sitting. They take a few seconds to stare at the multiple doors in the corridor, before Makoto walks over to the door beside them. "We should get started. After all, we need information if we're going to help him. Right?" The Thieves nod but as Makoto goes to open the door, Haru rests a hand on her shoulder. 

She takes it back when Makoto turns to her. "Sorry, I was just wondering, would it not be a good idea to split up? There are a lot of rooms in this corridor alone. I can only assume there will be more ahead. I thought it would speed the process along." 

Makoto nods her head slightly. "You're right. That is a good idea. But I think we should move in pairs for now. We don't know what we'll run into and none of us have multiple powers like Akira does." The Thieves all nod their heads in agreement. "Okay then. Haru you come with me. Ryuji and Ann you go together. Morgana and Yusuke make up the last pair. Futaba, you're our Navigator so you can either join one of the pairs or help us from the Safe Room." 

Futaba nods slightly, before turning to her scans. "I'll.... I'll help you all out from the Safe Room. I'll be able to see everything going on, while making sure none of you get into too much trouble." Makoto nods her head as Futaba takes a few steps towards the Safe Room. "I'll be able to hear each of you with my Persona, but you won't be able to talk to me. So if you run into trouble or need me just say my name. Just don't forget to come back here once you go through all the rooms." They all nod in agreement as she walks back into the Safe Room. Makoto turns to the Thieves once they've all paired up. "We don't know what we're going to find in any of these rooms. But no matter what we see, we don't hold any of it against him." They all nod quickly. The other 2 teams both pick a door, before walking through it. Makoto and Haru share a quick glance before opening their own door. 

Futaba does a quick analysis of the 3 rooms. Seeing no immediate dangers, she sits back a little. Keeping her eyes glued to the data rolling through on her screen. None of the three rooms are anything special. They fit the Palace more than their entrance room did. They're all rather small. More cell like than she imagined. The windows are barred which they didn't appear to be from the outside. None of them seem to have anything important in either, but they all still check the whole room before leaving. 

The second rooms the pairs enter are also cell-like. Barred windows again and weathered paint on the walls. Once again the Thieves make sure to check the whole room before leaving. Futaba checks over the data flowing into her laptop quickly, before nodding to herself as the Thieves open the door. "I suppose there was nothing on the first floor. I suppose that that's very Akira like. This first floor is like the surface of his personality where he tries to act like nothing is wrong." She frowns slightly as she stands up from the table. "I suppose we should head up then, right?" Makoto nods her head and opens the door for the others. 

The teens leave the room following after Makoto. Waiting for her to open the door to the second floor. "Oracle? Can you tell how many floors this place has?" 

Futaba pulls up her data. "I'm not sure. It looked from the outside to be only 2 or 3 stories high. But the data I'm getting from my scans seems like it's at least a few more." She stares at her data for a few more seconds before making the screens disappear. "But like I said, I can't tell. But if I had to take a guess I'd say maybe 5?" 

Makoto nods her head slightly and turns back to the door. "We should probably get moving then." 

She opens the door and any words on any of their lips dies immediately at the sight before them. Because what lies before them is unmistakably the entrance hall of Shujin Academy. None of them take another step into the new floor. But Ryuji, unsurprisingly is the one to speak. "Please tell me that this doesn't mean we brought him back to somewhere he views as a Prison!" 

Yusuke steps beside him and places a calming hand on his shoulder. "Calm down Skull. That might not be be what this represents. It might be how he viewed Shujin when he first got to Tokyo." 

Yusuke takes a few calming breathes before turning to Yusuke. "You're right Fox." He turns to the others. "Sorry for yelling like that. I just hated the thought that we could have made things worse for him." 

Everyone nods slightly before climbing the last few steps and entering the new floor properly. "Shujin is a rather big school. I really hope we won't have to go through every room." 

Ann shakes her head slightly. "We shouldn't have to. Akira only really frequents a few rooms in the whole school. As well as the roof I suppose but that doesn't count as a room." 

Makoto turns to her. "Do you know which rooms?" 

She nods quickly. "Are we splitting up this time or sticking together?"   
  
Makoto thinks for a few seconds. "The school is quite big. But if we're only going to a few rooms it might be counterproductive to split up." 

Ann nods in agreement. "It really is only a few rooms. Our classroom, the library and the roof. As far as I'm aware those are the only 3." 

Ryuji looks around slightly before turning to Makoto and Ann. "The teacher's lounge might be worth looking into as well. Maybe even the Principle's office." When everyone turns to stare at him he holds his hands up in front of him. "Hey trust me, I'm the last person to want to go to either of those rooms. But the day I met Akira he got in trouble because he was meant to meet Kawakami at the teachers lounge in the morning." 

Makoto nods her head slightly. "That makes sense, but why the Principle's office?" 

Ryuji shrugs a little. "I'm less sure on that one to be honest. But he was a transfer student. He would've had to have attended a meeting with the Principal at some point right?" 

Makoto stares at him for a few seconds. "You know what, you're right. It most likely would have been before he even started the school. Boss might have even had to have gone with him. What with him being his guardian and all." Ryuji smiles a little. "Okay. So that's four rooms along with the roof. We'll search for a Safe Room first, before splitting off to look around this floor." With the plan settled, the all start walking up the stairs. 

Futaba draws everyone's attention once they reach the first landing. "Okay, so I know this is a Palace and all. But if we're moving upwards right now, how are we not moving through the Palace?" 

Morgana turns to her quickly, a look of surprise on his face. "I really don't know. It shouldn't be possible, but I suppose if this part is enclosed with a trick to moving forwards I suppose it wouldn't be impossible to do it." Futaba nods her head slightly. "Like I said though, I'm not sure. Akira's power was something I had never thought possible." Futaba accepts the answer and keeps climbing. 

When they get to the third staircase, Futaba checks her readings. "I think the Safe Room might be above us. The Cognition around here is weakening." 

Haru turns to look at her, before looking up. "The roof? Why?" 

They all think for a few seconds before Ann shouts out. "It was our first Hideout! Back when it was just the 4 of us! It must have been the first time he felt actually safe and welcome at school." 

Silently they walk the rest of the stairs up to the roof. And just like with the Leblanc Safe Room, it's in colour. Haru's plants are there, but they're pushed off to the side just a little bit as they were when the roof was being used as their Hideout. As everyone takes a seat somewhere on the roof, Makoto looks back to the door. "We should decide who takes what room." 

Ryuji's head shoots up quickly. "If it's all the same to you guys, I'd rather not take the Principle's or teachers offices. They remind me of when Kamoshida broke my leg." 

Haru nods her head softly. "That's okay Ryuji. Me and Mako can take the Principle's office. Yusuke and Morgana can take the teacher's office. You and Ann can take the classroom. But that still leaves the library." 

Futaba stands up slowly. "I'll take the library." The Thieves turn to watch her carefully. "I know my Persona can't be used in a fight, but I'll be able to see if there is any Shadow's in the room. If there is I'll run to one of you guys or back here." 

Haru smiles at her softly. "Ann and Ryuji will be the closest to you. So if something does go wrong, make your way to the classroom." Futaba nods quickly, putting on a brave face. With rooms decided, everyone makes their way out of the safe room. 

Futaba gets to her room first. As promised she takes a second to scan the room for Shadows. Finding nothing she takes a breath and opens the door. Inside the room is empty as her scans told her, but there's something drawing her to the table at the back of the room. In front of the window. She walks towards it slowly, in case a Shadow jumps out of nowhere. When nothing jumps out at her she walks the rest of the way towards the table. When she gets there, Akira's Shadow is sat in the chair, turning to face her. Yellow eyes staring into her own mauve brown ones. "What do you want with me?" 

The Shadow just stares at her for a few seconds in disdain before rolling his eyes. "I thought you were the smart one, Taba." 

"Don't you call me that!" 

He continues, ignoring her outburst, getting up from his seat to stand over her. "I thought I made it obvious what I wanted." It takes Futaba a second to clock it, but his clothes have changed, he's now wearing his Shujin uniform. "I want you all to leave. None of you have any business here." 

Futaba stares up at him stubbornly. He laughs slightly at the glint in her eyes. "Anyone would think we're actually related with how stubborn you can be sometimes Taba." She yells at him again for the nickname and is ignored once again. "Just leave and no one has to get hurt. I don't want to hurt any of you. Especially not you. So just _leave_. Leave me to rot here. It's not worth helping me. I'll only end up bringing you trouble." 

Futaba stands on her tiptoes, trying to get as much height as possible, and jabs a finger at the Shadow's chest. "Listen here you. Akira is the best thing that happened to me. I've had my own Palace, I know what it's like. And I will _not_ leave my stubborn big brother to destroy himself just because he thinks I should. If you think I'm leaving here without that Treasure you have another thing coming. Because I'd find a way to get it even if all the others gave up on him." 

The Shadow stares at her in silence, seemingly taking in her words before shrugging. "You'll see what I mean soon enough." With that he disappears. She stares at where he was just stood for a few seconds before sighing. She drops her head to stare at the floor, her shoulders dropping only a second after. Once she's regained her courage, it took a lot out of her to say all that to the Shadow, she heads for the corridor. 

Ryuji and Ann are heading to walking up the stairs when she gets to the staircase. "Library empty too?"

Futaba nods a little as she falls into step with them. "Apart from a run in with his Shadow, yeah." She waves off their questions of concern. "He didn't hurt me, didn't call any Shadow's either. Just talked to me and tried to get me to leave." The two nod slightly before following her onto the roof. 

Makoto and Haru are already waiting for them when they get onto the roof. "Find anything?" 

They all shake their heads. "I had a run in with the Shadow. Before you ask, yes I'm okay and no he didn't try anything. We just talked and he tried to get me to leave." Makoto nods her head slightly in acceptance. 

Morgana and Yusuke join them in the Safe Room a few minutes later. "We didn't find anything. How do you suspect we get to the next floor?" 

Everyone sits down in the middle of the room to think things over. "I really don't know. But it has to be somewhere in the school right?" They all nod in agreement. "I just can't think to where that would be." 

Futaba scans the floor again, in a vain hope that something will show up this time. "Maybe it's like Madarame's Palace. Maybe the entrance won't show unless we trick him into showing it." 

Morgana turns to Ryuji, a snappy remark on his tongue, but it dies in his throat as he actually thinks about what Ryuji is saying. "I suppose it would make sense. Akira is a secretive person, and his Shadow clearly doesn't want us here. Maybe he really has hidden it." 

Ryuji shoots up in his seat. "Exactly! And maybe if we get him to open up again, just a little, the entrance to the next floor will show up." 

Futaba looks up from her scans. "It's worth a shot. But we need to figure out *what in _particular_ is stopping us from proceeding. Because getting him to open up again completely might take months, we don't know how long this Palace has." 

Ryuji frowns at her. "That means we're done for the day doesn't it?" 

Futaba nods slightly. "Unless you want to spend all night here yes it does." The Thieves all frown at that. They know that they don't have another choice, but none of them want to wait longer than they have to to help their Leader. Their friend. 

Futaba pulls her phone out and they leave the Metaverse, reappearing in front of Futaba and Sojiro's house. Makoto checks the time once they've exited. "It isn't too late. If everyone is up for it, we can go to the Shibuya diner and brainstorm for a little while." Everyone agrees easily. As they pass by Leblanc, they each spare a glance inside. 

When they get to the diner, they all pile into one of the booths. It's slightly uncomfortable with so many people, plus Morgana who's sat in Futaba's lap, but no one complains that much. 

Makoto breaks the silence once their drinks are brought over. "Okay. If we're trying to get deeper into Akira's subconscious, we need to ask about something he's never told us about before. Otherwise we'd most likely be able to see the door." 

"His parents." 

Ryuji and Futaba look over to each other quickly, while the other Thieves try to catch up. "His parents?" 

Morgana answers for them. "I think they might be right. I'm with him pretty much all the time, and he never once told me anything about his parents. Everything I know about them, which isn't much, I learnt by watching them during those 2 months I was with him in Inaba." 

Makoto nods her head slightly. "Okay, let's roll with this train of thought. How do we get him to open up about such a touchy subject?" 

Ryuji and Futaba share another quick look. "I think me and Futaba might be the best people for that job. We're the only ones who've met his parents. Definitely the only ones to have spoken with them. I think it's gotta be one of us." 

Haru hums slightly, before looking over at the two. "We still need to decide how to bring it up. Hurting or upsetting Akira could possibly make him close off more of his Palace to us."

Futaba nods her head slightly. "His parents agreed to send the rest of his stuff to Leblanc. It should be arriving by the end of the week. We can ask him about them, while you guys make your way further into the Palace. 

Ann is the sceptical one this time. "Won't he get suspicious if you're both there?" 

Yusuke nods in agreement. "Ann does make a valid point. We of all people should know how quick minded Akira is." 

Futaba nods slightly. "Okay, then I'll ask and Ryuji enters the Palace. I live with Sojiro after all it's least strange for _me_ to be there when his stuff arrives. I'll offer to help and follow him up the stairs anyway. Claiming that Sojiro left to get cigarettes and I didn't want to be in the shop on my own." She thinks for a few seconds before continuing. "Besides, if his Shadow's behaviour towards me is any indicator, he still sees me like a sister and shouldn't be too suspicious that I want to be there when he gets the final proof that his parents don't care about him...." She trails off quickly, dropping her head in sadness. The others stare at her in silence. They all know that isn't how she meant it, and that she was just stating a fact. But they also know that telling her that wouldn't make her feel better, because she's already aware of both of those things. 

Makoto decides to end the meeting to take Futaba's mind off of it. "Okay we have the plan then. Futaba can I ask you to let us know when Akira's things arrive so that we can enter his Palace by the time you start talking to him?" 

He interruption has the desired effects as Futaba immediately snaps her head to look at Makoto. "Yeah sure. I'll tell Sojiro about it when I get back. As soon as it's time I'll message you all. His parents are pretty punctual people so they shouldn't arrive until Friday, but just in case keep an eye out." With everyone agreeing on the plan, they split off for the night. Morgana being held in Futaba's arms as they get on the train back to Yongen-Jaya.

The rest of the week passes quickly for the group. All waiting for Futaba to message them to put their plan in motion. All waiting in hope that Akira will talk to one of them, even once. But as he did the week before, he ignores them the whole week. 

So when Futaba messages them on Friday afternoon, the Thieves are quick to meet at Yongen-Jaya. Because the Palace spans the whole country they could probably enter from anywhere but they decide it' s best if they all enter from the same place so they're all together. So while Futaba tries to get Akira to talk to her, the rest enter his Palace again. When they get back to the second floor, they walk around quickly, trying to figure out where the entrance to the higher levels will show up. 

Futaba walks into Leblanc after watching the others enter the Palace. Sojiro is stood behind the counter as usual and luckily for her the cafe is empty. At the bottom of the stairs to Akira's room lay 3 boxes. "They've just gotten here. There's 4 in total." Futaba nods slightly as Akira walks back down the stairs to pick up another box. 

She walks over to him quickly. "Let me help you." He raises his head and stares at her for a few seconds, looking like a deer in headlights, before nodding his head silently, and taking the box upstairs. The younger picks one up as well and follows after him. She drops the box next to the other two as Akira turns back for the last one. 

As Akira carries the last one into his room, Futaba gets up from where she had dropped onto the couch. "I'm surprised your parents actually agreed to send your stuff here." 

Akira freezes in place for a few seconds, and Futaba fears she's already failed, before he shrugs his shoulders and opens one of the boxes. "They didn't need any of it. It would have cost them more effort to get rid of it than it would to send it here. I knew that and so did they. It was the most cost efficient decision." 

Futaba stares at his back for a few seconds as he kneels in front of the box. "What are your parents like anyway? They both seem to be very.... sensible." 

Akira lets out a cold laugh as he casts a glance over his shoulder. "Yeah that's a word for it I suppose. Why are you asking about them anyway?" He stares at he as he asks and Futaba is sure the jig is up. 

But she carries on anyway, pulling her legs up in front of her chest. "I was just wondering. It didn't take much for them to agree to you coming back here so I was curious." 

He blinks a few times and turns back away. "You said you were going to help. If you do I'll answer 3 questions. Any 3 you have." 

She stands up from the couch. "After we're done or while we're working?" 

He thinks for a second before looking up at her. "1 now, the other 2 once we're done." She frowns slightly before nodding. It's better than nothing after all and it gives her time to think of efficient questions to get him talking. 

She kneels on the other side of the box and helps him empty it. "Okay, first question. Did your parents ever hurt you? Either how Ryuji's dad did him, or how the memory of my mum did me." 

He looks up at her for a second before looking back down. "I don't know whether you'd call it abuse. It's not like he left permanent scars. But sometimes yeah. My mum didn't hit me, that wasn't her style. Before the silence she'd call me names or something along those lines and then claim later on that she never said anything." With the question answered he turns away to the other boxes and gets to work on emptying them. 

While his back is turned, Futaba shoots off a quick text saying she'll need a bit of time, even though she knows they probably won't see it. With that done she helps Akira lay his things on the floor. 

They work in silence for nearly an hour and a half. It wasn't hard work as most of the stuff in boxes were books, so they were just stacking them safely in parts of the room. Other than that it was small trinkets or figures that they needed to find a place for. Once everything has been given a place, Futaba drops onto the couch. "You owe me 2 answers." Akira just nods in acceptance as he sits down on his bed. "First question. What was it like living with them? Before your arrest I mean." 

Another shrug from the teen but he does actually give her an answer as well. "They were parents. I have no doubt they tried their best but they were always at work and missed a lot of things. My dad in particular missed every birthday once I turned 4, until I no longer wanted him there then he always seemed to make the effort to be there. And if I voiced my displeasure about it I'd get a 3 hour lecture from my mum about how hard they both work to put a roof over my head and that I shouldn't be so rude and unappreciative. I tried to get along with my mum, because she was home more than he was. But we're so different. We have no common interests so we could never hold a conversation and she said a lot of things that angered me. Not that I could ever speak up about it without a lecture. But when I turned about 14 what little of a relationship just got worse and worse when I started forming my own opinions." 

Futaba frowns at the information being given to her. But she asks her second question anyway. "Do your parents know you're gay?" 

Akira's face drops even more at the question and she wishes she could take it back. "They do. My mum sat me down one evening and practically forced me to tell her. My dad heard because he was coming downstairs when I finally said the words. He never said anything about it, just completely ignored it, which honestly compared to my mum's reaction I think I prefer it. Despite forcing me to come out to her, she never apologised for that. Didn't know what she did was wrong and I don't think she'd care if she did. But despite now knowing I was gay, her comments didn't stop. She'd still say that she thought such and such was weird to my face and then tell me off when I got too annoyed while trying to explain it to her." His phone rings as he talks. "I need to go. I'll be late for work." He drops his phone into his back pocket and heads for the stairs. "Thank you for helping." He adds quietly, before continuing.

Futaba just watches him leave before heading downstairs. Sojiro is already staring at her when she gets to the bottom of the stairs. "What did you ask him?" 

Futaba stares at him slightly. "I asked him about his parents, why?" 

Sojiro glances at the door for a second with a small sigh. "Because when he left the shop it was like he was in a trance. I told him to be careful as I always do but this time he didn't even respond. Just walked out of here like he didn't even hear me." 

Futaba frowns slightly before quickly pulling out her phone. "I need to see if our plan worked, or else I may have just made him worse for no reason." She opens the Nav and taps on Akira's name in the bookmarks. Sojiro can only watch as his daughter disappears right before his eyes. (He has to close the shop for 10 minutes while he calms down, never having seen how they do their Thief work after all. Not that he'll ever admit that). 

When Futaba enters Akira's Palace, she scans immediately to see where her teammates are. Seeing that they're still on the second floor she frowns slightly, before teleporting to the Safe Room. Seeing Morgana there she lets out a sigh of relief. "Mona, what's going on? Did it not work?" 

He shakes his head slightly. "We don't know yet. We couldn't find anything out of place to take us up, so they're all searching for one now while I opted to wait here for you." 

Futaba nods slightly before heading for the door. "Let's go help in the search then." Morgana nods quickly and follows Futaba out. 

As soon as they exit the Safe Room, Futaba crashes into Ryuji. "Skull! What are you doing here?" 

He glares at the cat slightly before taking a breath and standing up straight. "We found the door but there's a slight problem, so I came to get you. Didn't think I'd find Oracle as well though." 

Morgana walks past Futaba to stand in front of the blonde. "What do you mean there's a problem? What's wrong?" 

Ryuji lets out another sigh before taking the first few steps. "There's a type of lock on the door. But honestly it'd just be easier to show you. So let's get moving." Morgana rolls his eyes but does follow Ryuji down the stairs, Futaba joining them quickly. 

The others are waiting for them in front of the door to the gym. "Why would this be how we go further in?" 

Ryuji just shrugs at Morgana's question. "Not a clue. But is that what really grabs your attention here?" 

Morgana looks back to the door before gasping. "Wha.... What is that!?" 

Haru turns to look at him. "We don't know Mona. That's why we had Skull come and get you. Oh, hello Oracle. I didn't see you there." Futaba just nods her head, still staring at the door in confusion. 

In front of the door is a giant screen. On it is a compilation of all of the times his parents had hit him, yelled at him or flat out ignored him. "It's playing on repeat. We don't know what we're meant to do about it. If we're just meant to ignore it, whether we need to do something or if there's a way to turn it off." The door doesn't look locked. But the screen prevents them from getting to it. 

"Well, there isn't a wire anywhere so unless there's a special way of doing so, I don't think we need to turn it off." Futaba looks away from the screen as Akira's face goes blank while his mum shouts at him. The only mercy in the situation is that the screen doesn't have any sound. So they don't have to hear the hits landing, nor whatever is being said to make him shut off like that. 

Ann finally manages to tear her eyes away. "What are we going to do? We still don't have any idea on how we're meant to move past." They hear a quiet laugh from down the corridor and turn to see the Shadow. He's wearing his uniform as he was when he appeared to Futaba. 

The Thieves get in a fighting stance as he walks closer. "Oh please, I'm not here to fight. I'm here to give you some advice. Everything on this screen actually happened and it's only a taste of what you can expect to see from here on in. But you'll be able to here everything. Unless you want that, I suggest you leave now." 

Futaba glares at the Shadow. "I told you last time that I'm not leaving!" 

His eyes flash brighter as he stares down the Thieves, raising his hands to pull at his hair. " **ARGH**! Why!? Why won't any of you just take the hint? I don't want you here! _He_ doesn't want you here! You can just leave and pretend you never saw any of this and stop wasting your time on such a pathetic _loser_!" He pulls at his hair as he yells at them, before letting it go and standing up straight. He glares at each of the Thieves before snarling. "Fine." He waves a hand towards the screen. "Fine if you want to see for yourselves how pathetic your _Leader_ is. Then by all means, keep going. But when you regret what you find. _Don't_ say I didn't warn you." He turns away from them angrily and walks back into the halls of Shujin. 

All of them stare after the Shadow for a few minutes in complete, silence before turning back to the door. "We're continuing right?" 

Makoto nods quickly. "Of course we are." She places a hand on the door and leads them up the stairs to the next floor. Morgana, Ryuji and Futaba recognise where they are as they reach the top of the stairs. "A house?" 

Ryuji nods slightly. "It's Akira's house." The Thieves look from side to side as they leave the stairway. "We must have come out of his room." He looks down the hallway, like he's expecting someone to appear. No one does. From the hallway at least. But from another part of the house they hear footsteps. 

Futaba pulls on Makoto's sleeve and points down the hallway. "I can sense a Safe Room." With a sharp nod the Thieves take off running. Pulling themselves into the Safe Room. "Where is this one supposed to be?" They all take in the room around them. 

It takes him a little while to realise, but Morgana is the one to speak up. "I think this is his old schools gym." 

Futaba nods slightly. "I suppose it makes sense for it to be somewhere in Inaba, this is his house after all." 

But the others are still wondering why a gym. Morgana catches onto the looks and explains with a sigh. "Before his criminal record he did gymnastics. He didn't have that many friends in the school to begin with but no one could deny that he was good at gymnastics. Least of all the other members, even though there were only a few." 

Ryuji spins round to face Morgana. "Akira did gymnastics?" 

Morgana just stares at him before rolling his eyes with a heavy sigh. "Why are you so surprised? You didn't think that he just _happened_ to be able to do all the things he did in the Metaverse right? That wasn't part of his power, everything he did in the Metaverse he can do in the real world. Maybe to a slightly lesser degree sure because things work a little differently but still." 

Ryuji nods his head slightly. "I suppose it does make sense. I mean the dude flipped over Shadows and practically stood on their shoulders when sneaking up on them. Not to mention that his stamina was shit but he was never out of shape. I mean I know fighting Shadows was a workout and all but he was like that way before it became a regular thing we were doing." 

Morgana nods slightly. "He didn't talk much about his life in Inaba last year. But from what he told me, his parents never allowed him to participate in tournaments so eventually he stopped going to practice. But he would practice at home when his parents were both at work because he still loved the sport. That's all I managed to get out of him though." 

Yusuke stands up straight from where he's leaning against the wall. "While I would love to talk more about Akira's gymnastic abilities. Perhaps our topic of conversation should instead be on the footsteps that lead us to running in here in the first place."

Haru nods her head. "I agree. After all we need to know what that was. It could be a strong Shadow. And if it is, we need to discuss how we're going to get past it." 

Makoto turns to the two with a nod. "You're right. Thank you both for reminding us of that. We should go back out and see if whatever it is, is still walking around." 

Ann nods with a shaky glance at the door. "But what if it is a strong Shadow? If it spots us we'll have to fight it." 

Makoto nods again. "Then we fight it. You, Skull and Noir will be in the front with me with Fox and Mona act as backup in case something goes wrong." Ann takes a deep breath before nodding her agreement, following the others out the door.

They get back to the entrance of this floor before the footsteps ring out again. "Whatever that is, it must be big." 

Futaba nods from above Morgana and Yusuke. "But I can't get a reading on what it is." She looks away from the lines of data surrounding her, staring back down the hallway. "Something about this situation is strange." Morgana hums in agreement but keeps moving. By the time they get into what should be the living room, the source of the footsteps becomes clear. It's a giant Shadow. It has 2 heads sprouting from it's neck but apart from that it only has one body. One of the heads has long black hair, and Futaba recognises it as Akira's mums. "You guys hold up. I think this thing is a representation of how Akira sees his parents." That catches their attention and they stop at the entrance to the living room, trying to listen to what the Shadow is saying. But both of the heads are shouting over each other, seemingly arguing. But one thing is clear, they're angry at Akira. "It's possible that we can sneak past it rather than waste time taking it down but the decision is yours." 

Makoto stares at the Shadow slightly, seemingly shocked at how Akira views his parents. Ryuji shakes her shoulder shaking her out of it. "We're going around them. Try and stay quiet okay?" Makoto nods her head and follows Ryuji as he leads them through the living room towards the front door. Ryuji only spares a couple glances towards the joint Shadow as they sneak past it, some of the other Thieves seem to be unable to take their eyes off of it. 

Ryuji pulls at the handle when they get to the door only to find it locked. "Fuck, I think we're going to have to fight that thing anyway. The doors locked and I can only assume it has the key." They follow Ryuji back into the living room, falling into a fighting stance as the Shadow notices them. 

The Shadow dissolves with a Forneus and an Ongyo-Ki taking place. 

Futaba scans them quickly and shouts her findings down to the Thieves. "The only weakness here is electricity and it belongs to the Forneus." 

Ryuji grins and grips his mask. "I'm on it!" He rips is off quickly, his Persona coming to life behind him. "Captain Kidd!" A Ziodyne rips through Ryuji, before flying to the Forneus. It falls down in one having lost half it's health already. He takes the chance to make another attack, taking the rest of it's health. He turns to the other three and looks at the Shadow before them. "I have a feeling this one won't be as easy." He holds his hand out for Ann and passes the Baton to her. 

She stares at the Shadow for just a second before tearing her own mask off. "Carmen!" She hits the Shadow with an Agidyne taking only a moment to be annoyed that it wasn't inflicted with a burn. 

She can only spend a moment being annoyed because the next, the Shadow is attacking her. Her resistance to physical attacks isn't the best so Makoto has to take a moment to heal her to prevent any casualties. 

Haru hits the Shadow with a Psiodyne, Ryuji following with his own attack before it retaliates. Hitting them all with a Maeigaon. Ryuji is the only one who misses the dodge, so Ann spends her turn to heal him. 

It takes 3 more rounds of attack, but the Shadow is finally taken down and as expected, it drops the key to the door when it dies. "Anyone want to take minute to rest before continuing?" Haru raises her hand slowly, feeling bad about slowing them down, but wanting a minute to catch her breath. She got knocked out by a Mudoon at the end of the fight and her health hasn't been fully restored yet. "Oh yeah, right. We'll let you rest for a minute or two once Morgana has you healed up, alright?" 

She nods her head with a small smile before following them down the hall. "My apologies." 

Ryuji just waves his hand at her slightly. "Not like you asked to be hit with that. I should've known you'd want a minute, that move is nasty and just drains all your energy away." Haru smiles at him as she sits down at the table with a small sigh. Morgana heals her right away, before sitting next to her, waiting for them to start moving again. 

A little over 10 minutes later, and Haru feels ready to keep going again. "I apologise for wasting our time, I'm feeling much better now." 

Ryuji smiles at her a little. "Don't worry about it Noir. It couldn't be helped." 

Morgana raises an eyebrow at the blonde. "Wow Skull. I suppose you can be tactful when you want to be." 

Ryuji glares at him, before standing up with an eye roll. "If everyone else is ready, let's get moving." Haru groups back up with Makoto and joins the others by the door. Ryuji goes to open the door before turning to Makoto. "I know we had that giant Shadow to get past, but did this floor seem shorter to anyone else?" 

Makoto nods her head slightly. "I agree. Both the first floor and the second while being fairly straight forward, had a lot of rooms." She looks from Ryuji to Futaba. "Oracle is there any chance you can find out if there's anything else to this floor?" 

Futaba tilts her head from side to side a few times before nodding. "I could yeah. But wouldn't it be better to just keep going? Rather than wasting time waiting for me to finish analysing this one specific floor." She shrugs her shoulders a little. "I don't mind either way, it's not like it's too difficult for me to do. But I think it might be better if we just keep moving forwards and deal with what we find when we find it." 

Ann nods her head in agreement. "I agree with Oracle. We should keep moving forwards rather than get Oracle to scan the floor. Because she might not even find anything." 

Yusuke hums in approval. "Panther makes a good point. I believe our time would be best spent moving forwards." 

Makoto nods her head a little. "That does make sense. But I want to check the rest of this floor anyway. Just in case." She casts a glance around the hallway as they leave the Safe Room. "I'll catch up with all of you later. Wait for me at the next Safe Room, okay?" Ryuji nods at them before leading the way back to the houses front door. 

With the Thieves gone, turns and tries the doors near her. Only one of them opens. It's mostly empty inside, she assumes it's used as a storage room. But waiting for her inside is Akira's Shadow. "What are you doing here? Why do you keep appearing before us." 

The Shadow shrugs. Makoto notes he's not wearing his uniform anymore. He's wearing normal clothes, but with the ball and chain attached to his ankle again. "Because I want you to leave. All of you, but none of you seem to be getting the hint. Each and every one of you are stubbornly attached to this idea of helping me. But you're not wanted here. None of you are wanted here and sooner or later you'll regret being here. I'm going to make sure of that because none of you understand what I'm trying to tell you." 

Makoto frowns at the Shadow. "How come he never told any of us he did gymnastics?" 

The Shadow frowns at her. "Because it didn't matter. He hadn't done gymnastics for over 2 years when he was in Tokyo the first time. It's not like he hid it though, when he was flipping over Shadow's day in and day out. But none of you ever asked. Morgana asked, but he was with my other self all day every day. So he had plenty of time to ask." 

Makoto takes a step closer to the Shadow. "You never spoke about it though. You can't put all the blame on us!" 

Akira's Shadow just stares at her. Before a few laughs escape him. "You don't really think he blames you for not asking? That Akira Kurusu, the boy who risked _actually getting shot_ to help you all. Would blame you lot for not asking about him doing gymnastics?" Makoto's face drops a little bit. "He never blames any of you for anything. He didn't blame Futaba when her Calling Card was found. Didn't hate or dislike your sister when she asked him to turn himself in. Didn't blame any of you whenever you got brainwashed and attacked him, putting him on the brink of death. Nor when any of you were knocked out in Mementos." He moves closer to her, the ball and chain scraping and slinking across the floor but not slowing him down at all. He stops an arms length in front of her. "No." He leans down so that their faces are on the same level. "No for each of those things he blames himself. Blames himself for not being a better leader. For not protecting any of you better." He stands back up to his full height. Taking three steps away from her, but not turning his back on her. "Why don't you go back to the Thieves, I'm sure they're getting worried about you." 

Makoto takes a few steps towards the door, before turning back to the Shadow. "Why do you want us to leave so badly?" He raises an eyebrow at her in question. "Don't play dumb with me. Since we first entered this Palace you've been trying to get us to leave. The past Palace rulers didn't give us such courtesy and tried to kill us on sight. You only sent Shadows after us the first time we entered. And they were weak, you could have easily sent something stronger after us." 

The Shadow blinks a few times, his eyes flashing in warning. "What are you getting at? I've told you that I want you to leave, but what makes you think I want to hurt any of you?" He tilts his head to the side in question. "I didn't attack Futaba after talking to her, nor have I you. Before I just wanted you to leave peacefully, but after your show downstairs and your refusal to leave, I am going to _show_ you all. Why you should have taken my advice." With that the he disappears, leaving Makoto alone to get back to the group. 

Outside the house seems to be the rest of Inaba. But she doesn't spend any time looking around for anything other than the Safe Room. From the looks of the building she entered, it's an everyday store. The Thieves are sat around the table, seemingly waiting for her to meet them. "What took so long? Did you find something?" 

Makoto shakes her head as Morgana turns to look at her. "No, I ran into Akira's Shadow." 

That catches all of their attention, and they jump up to stand around her. "What happened? Are you okay?" 

She nods her head slightly. "I'm fine. He didn't attack me or summon any Shadows. We just talked." 

Ryuji pipes up from beside Futaba. "What did he say?" 

She frowns slightly, looking away from the blonde. "He said he's going to make us regret coming here. For not leaving when he gave us the chance." She looks over to Morgana. "I asked him why he never told us he did gymnastics. He said that it didn't matter because he hadn't done any in over 2 years last time he was in Tokyo. But that we hadn't asked him how he could flip over Shadows like it was nothing. None of us except Morgana but he's with him all the time anyway so he had more time to ask." The group start frowning as she talks. "I told him he couldn't put all the blame on us for not asking when he never told us. But.... he said he didn't blame us at all. Before going on to say that he's never blamed any of us for anything. Not Futaba when her Calling Card was found. Nor any of us when we got brainwashed and beat him to the brink of death." 

Ryuji turns his head away from Makoto. He already knew that Akira took the blame for a lot of stuff, but he didn't realise how much he blamed himself. And the knowledge makes him feel like a bad friend. "We should get going, we didn't explore this floor except to find the Safe Room." 

Makoto nods in agreement and turns back to the door. "Alright. we'll split up and explore." 

Ann pipes up from the back of the group when they leave the Safe Room. "Is it a wise decision to split up? What if we run into Shadows?" 

Futaba frowns at her a little. "We haven't yet. The only ones that we have run into is that giant one from his house, and the two he sent after us when we first entered. He said he doesn't want to hurt us so I think even if there are any Shadows they'll be weak enough to take out on your own or just sneak past. Akira is a lot of things, but he isn't a liar. If his Shadow says he doesn't want to hut us then I believe him." 

Makoto nods her head quickly, turning to face Ann. "If you don't feel safe on your own you can go with someone else. My thinking for splitting up was that me and Futaba were both alone when we ran into the Shadow. If we run into him again, we might be able to get more information from him which will make it easier to help him." 

Ann takes a deep breath before nodding in acceptance. "That makes sense. I guess I'm just a little jumpy. But you're both right. I'm sorry." 

Ryuji places a hand on her shoulder. "Look at it this way Ann. If you run into Akira's Shadow, you get to call him out on his bullshit like you said you wanted to the other day." She laughs a few times before nodding again. More confidently this time. 

Futaba grabs the groups attention just before they split off. "Me and Ryuji should head up this way." She throws a thumb over her shoulder. "The train station is up further this way. We're the only ones who've actually been around that area." Each of them give a nod of understanding before heading off down the road. They watch as a few of them split off, before turning around and walking towards the station. 

Ryuji nudges Futaba with his shoulder. "You want the station or the area around it." 

She looks over to the station before shrugging. "You take the station. I'll explore the few backstreets around it." 

The blonde nods and sends Futaba a small smile. "You doing okay Oracle?" She just gives him a shaky nod. "We'll definitley help him, okay? One way or the other." Futaba gives him a slightly firmer nod, so Ryuji shoots him another smile before towards the train station. 

Futaba watches him go for a minute. "Why haven't you told him, Akira?" She murmurs softly to herself before turning away from him. 

Haru splits off first, walking towards what looks to be a small shop. She looks around, the shop is strangely dark even for one so small. Walking towards the back of the shop, she sees Akira's Shadow stood in front of her. "Hello, Haru." 

She gives him a small smile, unable to help herself at the sight of her friend despite the yellow eyes. "Hello, Akira." She takes a second to study his appearance. He's wearing what appears to be his uniform for his old school. "Why will you only talk to us when we're on our own?" 

The Shadow shrugs, and pushes himself off of the wall. "Because you'll only listen to me when you're on your own. Otherwise you all start shouting over each other. This way, I can try to get you to understand individually." 

She frowns at him softly. "We'd listen to you Akira. We always do." 

He nods his head slightly. "That's true. You do listen to me, but none of you _see_ me. None of you see me for what I actually am." 

She tilts her head slightly, risking a step forwards. "And what would that be?" 

He stares at her, before looking away. "A failure. To everyone. To my parents, my hometown, Sojiro, all of you. I'm a failure even to myself. I can't go one night without thinking of why I hate myself." 

She takes a couple steps forwards this time, stopping right in front of him. "You're not a failure to us Akira. You're our precious friend. Why do you say such things? Why do you hate yourself?" 

He laughs darkly and side steps away from her. "To list all the reasons, my dear Haru. Would take far more time than I care to spend." She frowns at the realisation that he's still not letting them in. "This will be the last floor you get through for free. So I will give each of you one last warning." When she reaches for her axe, his face falls for a second before it's fixed masterfully in under a second. If Haru hadn't been stood so close to him she would have missed it. "I'm not an idiot. I know that both Futaba and Makoto told you all about our talks. I did not lie to them. My real self has no intent to hurt you, so neither do I. All he wants is for you to leave, so that's all I'm to do. Try and get you to leave." With that he walks further away from her before disappearing. 

Haru is momentarily washed in grief over her instinctual actions, but shakes it out of her head. She's here for a reason, that reason is to help Akira so she needs to continue looking. He told her himself that he's basically not allowed to hurt them, so she isn't worried for the safety of the others. 

Yusuke walks through Akira's old school, unsure which part of the school Morgana has gone to look through. He opens another classroom door to see the Shadow sat on one of the tables. Still wearing his old uniform as he was when he appeared to Haru. Yusuke closes the door beside him and walks over to the Shadow of their leader. "Yusuke. What do you think?" 

The artist frowns at him. "What do I think? About what?" 

Shadow Akira sighs slightly. "About my Palace. My prison. I think it's quite interesting myself. The fact that he sees so many places as part of one giant prison." 

Yusuke lets out a small sigh. "I must confess it is interesting how our leader sees this country. But I will not be sad to see this place go. After all, it's hindering our leaders happiness." The Shadow lets out a dark laugh, which concerns Yusuke. "What is it?" 

The Shadow lets out a few more laughs, waving his hand in front of his face, before standing up straight to face the artist again. "You don't truly think that this place is the only reason he isn't happy? This place needed a reason to form didn't it?" Yusuke stares at him in shock. "Oh don't get me wrong, if you all continue to go against my wishes and continue through this Palace you'll definitely _help_ him. But that's not all there is to this." Yusuke frowns at him so the Shadow elaborates. "What I _mean_ is that even if you destroy this place and steal his Treasure, it's not going to change how this country views him." 

Yusuke nods his head. "That may be true, but once we steal his Treasure, we'll be there to help him. We won't leave him on his own again." 

The Shadow raises an eyebrow at him before shrugging. "We'll see. But I have other Thieves to see." Yusuke just watches him disappear. The Shadows words are fairly straight forwards, but Yusuke can't help but feel that there's something more than Akira's record that helped this place form. Maybe even a few other things. But with no way to check that right now, he puts it to the back of his mind and instead uses his energy to check the room instead. 

With Morgana being the closest, that's the Shadows next stop. When he appears before the cat, he's near the gym. "Morgana, hey." The cat turns to face him as he continues talking. "I'm surprised to see you trying so hard. He was pretty rude to you while he was in Inaba wasn't he?" 

Morgana's fur bristles and he points his sword at the Shadow. "Maybe so but I don't blame him for any of it. I want to help him and that's what I'm going to do." 

The Shadow almost looks annoyed at him. "You really want to help him?" He nods. "Then why did you leave him in Inaba? Surely it wasn't absolutely * _necessary_ * that you go to Tokyo. But you did anyway. You left him in Inaba without a word." 

Morgana frowns at him. "He'll understand once we take his Treasure." 

The Shadow nods his head a few times. "Maybe. But here's the thing. In his eyes, he _already_ understands. He believes you left him in Inaba because you finally got sick of him. Finally realised that he's not worth caring about and definitely not worth being around. That's why he thinks you left and that's why he was so surprised when he got to Tokyo and you were there." Morgana opens his mouth to say something, but he continues talking. "In fact, part of him was upset. He was upset that none of you could or have realised that he's worthless. That he'll only bring trouble for the lot of you." 

Morgana stares up at him. "Well, you're part of him. What do you think?" 

He chuckles twice before staring down at Morgana. "I don't _think_ anything. I live in here, I'm the ruler of this Palace. And as you'll all soon see if you keep going, I have proof of all these claims. So I don't need an opinion because I have the truth." He looks down the corridor before looking back down at Morgana. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I believe Ann wanted to yell at me. Did she not?" Morgana wants to yell at him to leave her alone, but the look in his eyes tells him he won't do anything to hurt her. So he lets him go, saying nothing as he walks past him. 

Ann is walking through the streets when she's found. He falls into step with her, smiling a little when she turns to him with a frown. "If I'm correct, you have a bone to pick with me right?" 

She stops walking and turns to face him completely. "You bet I do! It's bad enough that you're making all of us worry. But you're upsetting Futaba and Ryuji. The two closest to you and you just don't seem to care!" She lets out a breath as she crosses her arms over her chest. 

The Shadow frowns at her. "I don't know what you think of me, Ann. But I am part of Akira. I don't wish to hurt them, and neither does he. But he believes you should all be leaving him alone. So I believe that too. He doesn't want any of you to get hurt because of him. He believes the best way to ensure that that never happens is to distance himself so of course I believe that too." 

The blonde seems to deflate a bit with that information. "I don't know why you think that's the best way to go about this. But you're hurting everyone. Both us and yourself. The rest of us don't deserve this either, but Futaba and Ryuji definitely don't. Futaba is your little sister and I know how much you care about Ryuji, you should stop hurting them." Shadow Akira frowns and disappears, leaving Ann on her own again with a frown of her own. 

The Shadows last Thief is Ryuji. And he's almost annoyed that one of the two Thieves he wants to save the most Save from himself. He finds him on his way back to the entrance. "I take it you found the door to the next floor." 

Ryuji startles at his voice and looks up at him. "Why is there a blue smoke coming from under the door?" 

The Shadow shrugs, as Ryuji stands in front of him. "Who knows? Well, I do but hopefully you'll heed my warnings this time and leave." 

Ryuji raises an eyebrow at him. "Why, what's up there?" 

He frowns at the blonde. "You don't need to know. If you guys have found the last 2 floors upsetting, you won't want to see anything on the next 2 floors." Ryuji's brow creases as he tries to think of what could be up the stairs to the next floors. The Shadow grabs his wrist and jolts him closer. "Please, Ryuji. Just leave. I don't want you to get hurt from what you learn and you will. If you care about Akira at all, leave." 

Ryuji looks up at the Shadow, who still has a grip on his wrist. But he's no longer wearing his old uniform. Instead he's wearing his Shujin uniform, and Ryuji's heart constricts in his chest. But there are two big points that remind him this isn't _his_ Akira. Those being the yellow eyes, and the wings sprouting from his back that look similar from somewhere, but he can't put his finger on where. But it drives home the point that his friend isn't okay, and needs his help. So he pushes the feeling down and pulls his wrist away, ignoring the way the Shadows face falls slightly. "No. I care about Akira yes, he's my best friend. But he needs my, our, help. I won't leave him when he needs us." 

Shadow Akira grabs for Ryuji again, his wings flaring slightly when Ryuji takes a step away from him. He grabs for him again, latching back onto his wrist. "Ryuji. Please. Leave. Take Futaba, and the others and get out of here." Ryuji shakes his head firmly and tries to pull his wrist free. "Ryuji. I'm begging you. Akira cares about you so much. He doesn't want you to see anything that lies ahead. Doesn't want Futaba to see it either." The blonde shakes his head again, but doesn't pull his wrist away again. "I'm begging you Ryuji." His wings curve around his torso as he pleads with Ryuji. Something in his memory flickers but it's still to far away for him to figure it out. "He loves the other Thieves as well, but you 2. You and Futaba are the best things to ever happen to him. He doesn't want to drag you down. He wants everyone around him to leave so no one gets hurt." 

Ryuji pulls at his wrist pathetically. "What are you on about? I know Futaba might as well be your little sister. But why am I so important?" 

The Shadow scoffs, before schooling his face back into Akira's perfected mask. "Why aren't you so important. You were his first friend in Tokyo. You're his right hand man, you've stuck by him every step of the way. He truly truly cares for you. He has since before even halfway through his year in Tokyo. But he was willing to wallow in silence. Knowing he didn't deserve you." Ryuji blushes at the Shadow's words but the Shadow isn't done yet. "So please, leave." 

Ryuji stares at him for a few seconds, before finally pulling his wrist away. "No. You might be too stubborn to ask for and accept help, but I'm *going* to help him. We're _all_ going to help him." The Shadow stares at him in dismay before his eyes gleam and he pushes past Ryuji. 

"Fine. None of you will listen to me, so I hope you have fun with what you learn ahead." The strange wings sprouting from the Shadow's back brush against Ryuji as he pushes past him. Getting an even closer look at them, he finally realises why they look familiar. They're belong to his first Persona. To Arsené. But his mind is too busy reeling from everything he was just told to truly pay attention to them. 

He only snaps out of his reverie when he hears a door slam loudly from somewhere behind him. He shakes his head a few times and starts walking back to the Safe Room to wait for the others. 

They're all waiting for him when he finally gets back. "We're heading out for the day, we're all worn out. Are you okay, Skull?" He nods his head in answer to Makoto's question before turning to Futaba. 

She tilts her head at him a little. "Skull? What happened?" 

The blonde casts a glance around the room at the others before turning back to the hacker. "Can we talk?" 

Futaba just stares at him before nodding. "Just the two of us? Cause I can drop Mona off at home first." He nods his head slightly. "Are you sure you're okay?" 

He nods his head quickly. "I'm fine Oracle, I swear. I just wanna talk." She nods her head in acceptance. 

Makoto pulls her phone out, sending them back to Yongen-Jaya. Morgana jumps onto the wall in front of Futaba's house as the other Thieves split off with their own goodbyes. 

With Morgana and the others gone, Futaba turns to Ryuji. "What did you need to talk about?" 

Ryuji scratches his neck slightly and takes a deep breath. "I think I might be in love with Akira...." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to give each of the Thieves equal interaction with Akira and the Shadow but it's a difficult balance to manage when I forget Yusuke exists half the time and I don't like Makoto. I am trying but please forgive me if one of them ends up with so much less then another


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira's not doing so well and Ryuji comes out to his mum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to put this warning in, I'm sorry about that. But a lot of this   
> chapter is about and in reference to Akira self harming. Please take care when reading this chapter and I'll be more careful in the future about forgetting warnings for things like this.

Futaba watches him for a second, a small smile forming on her face. "You _think_?" Her smile continues to grow as Ryuji starts blushing, so she brings a hand up to her mouth to cover it. 

Ryuji just frowns at her slightly. "Come on, man. I'm trying to be serious here." 

She drops her hand and faces him properly. "Sorry. It's just, this is really exciting to hear." Ryuji tilts his head slightly. "I've been waiting for you to figure it out for months now. Pretty much since I joined the Thieves. But why did you realise it in the Palace?" 

Ryuji's blush comes back in full force and he looks away from her for a second. "Well.... When Akira's Shadow talked to me, he said he didn't want us specifically, me and you, to continue. Didn't want us to see anything that lay ahead. I knew why he'd feel that way about you being there, what with you 2 becoming like siblings and all. But I asked him why he felt it so important that I went with you. But his Shadow just answered like it was nothing and I just.... I don't know. I don't even know how long I've loved him but I can tell it's been a while." 

Futaba smiles at him. "You have to tell him! Not right now, I honestly don't know how he'd respond to that right now. But once we steal his heart, you should definitley tell him." 

Ryuji shakes his head. "What, why? It's not like he likes me back." 

The hacker heaves a heavy sigh and drops her head into her hands. "Ryuji. I'm only going to tell you this once. But you are insane, if you think Akira doesn't love you back." She lifts her head from her hands to stares at him. "Akira has known he loves you for months. Way before the end of the Phantom Thieves even. But you kept going on about how much you wanted a girlfriend so he was content to suffer in silence." Ryuji's face falls at the information. "It isn't your fault, Ryuji. But I do believe that completing Akira's Palace won't fix him completely. There's a few more things that are fuelling it. I believe this may be one of them, but I don't think we'll see it in his Palace." 

Ryuji nods his head slightly. "I will do." With that he turns to head for the train station. He turns back for a second to smile at the younger team. "Oh, by the way." She tilts her head in curiosity. "Thanks. For letting me talk, I mean." The hacker smiles at him before turning into her own house. 

When he walks past Leblanc to get to the station, he sees Akira walking into the cafe. He frowns slightly at the teen, but keeps going anyway, knowing that Akira wouldn't talk to him if he drew his attention. Instead he pulls his phone out to message Futaba. 

**Ryuji:** Is Akira back at work already? He left for 3 months how did he get a job so quickly?" 

**Futaba:** He is. In the Crossroads bar in Shinjuku. 

**Ryuji:** Wait he has a job in Shinjuku? That shady area.

 **Futaba:** Yep. But I looked into it a little bit and honestly, his boss treats him really well. Always keeping an eye on him when it gets too busy. As well as asking how he feels when he's particularly dead on his feet.

 **Ryuji:** How did he even get a job there? Also should he really be working right now? 

**Futaba:** I don't know how he got the job last time, but Lala was more than happy to take him back. A little under a week since he got back to Tokyo. And I don't know whether he should be working or not. But he seems to be a little better when he has something to do. 

**Ryuji:** Well, if he wants something to do who are we to tell him not to? 

When he doesn't get a response after a minute, he puts his phone back away. Just in time for the train to arrive at the platform. He squeezes through a couple of people who are getting off, to make sure he actually gets on the train. (It's happened before that the train has left without him). Once on the train, he pulls his phone out again to see if Futaba has messaged him again. 

There's no message from the hacker, but there is one from Ann, asking why he needed to talk to Futaba so badly. He sighs a little bit before opening the message. 

**Ryuji:** It's nothing don't worry about it

The reply comes almost instantly, as if she was waiting for his reply. Which probably is what she's doing now that he thinks about it. 

**Ann:** Yeah right, Ryuji. 

**Ann:** How long have I known you now? I know when it's nothing with you. This wasn't nothing. 

**Ryuji:** I'm telling you it's fine 

**Ann:** If you're worried about the others reading the messages over my shoulder don't be. I'm already home. 

**Ryuji:** Ugh. Alright alright I'll tell you 

**Ann:** It's something to do with Akira right? 

**Ryuji:** How the fuck 

**Ryuji:** No you know what you're right so it doesn't matter. It's just that while I was talking with Akira's Shadow he said some stuff that made me.... I don't know? Reevaluate the way I saw Akira? 

**Ann:** You mean you finally realised you're in love with him?

 **Ryuji:** I didn't say that! 

**Ann:** ....

 **Ryuji:** Fine okay! Yes, I realised I'm in love with him.

 **Ann:** Why did you go to Futaba for that? 

**Ryuji:** Because I wasn't sure abut anything and with her being like his little sister she's the closest to him. 

**Ryuji:** I know Morgana is close with him too but there was no way in hell I was going to ask him about it. 

**Ann:** No, but I would pay to see that conversation 

**Ryuji:** I can just imagine the face you're making now with how much you liked that idea. 

**Ann:** Sorry, but I am glad you figured it out (even if it did take a while but still) You are going to tell Akira right?

 **Ryuji:** At some point I will. But Futaba warned me not to until we complete his Palace and I think she's right

While Ann types her reply, Ryuji gets off of the train. 

**Ann:** That's understandable and unsurprisingly she's probably right.

 **Ann:** But I'll stop bugging you about it now Ryuji. Talk to you later. 

**Ryuji:** See ya Ann.

He puts his phone back in his pocket as he leaves the station. Ready for the walk home. 

His mum isn't home when he gets back. He smiles at the empty apartment before sitting down to pull his shoes off. After sitting there for a few minutes, he pulls himself up to make himself something to eat. Making sure to leave enough for his mum as well when she gets home. 

An hour later he's eaten and washed everything up, as well as leaving a note for his mum on the fridge to make sure she knows about the food. With all that done, he heads into his room to sleep. 

The next morning, he heads straight into his kitchen without checking his phone. Doesn't even bring it into the kitchen with him. But it doesn't register for him when met with the sight of his mum drinking a cup of coffee on the couch. "Mum? I thought you were in work today?" 

She nods her head a little, taking another sip of coffee. "I am. I was about to leave actually. After my coffee." 

He tilts his head slightly. "What do you mean? What time is it?" He checks his pocket for his phone before realising he hasn't brought it in with him. 

She smiles at him a little bit. "It's a little after 5. Why are you up so early?" 

He scratches his neck slightly. "I don't really know. I just woke up a minute ago. I didn't realise it was so early." He walks back into his room to grab his phone while his mum finishes his coffee. On the rare occasions he's awake when she leaves for work he spends as much time talking to her as possible, but the whole situation with Akira and his Palace makes him anxious to be away from his phone for pretty much any period of time. 

He checks his messages quickly, just in case someone's messaged him while he was asleep. Seeing no messages he heads back out into the kitchen. "You going back to sleep when I leave Yuji?" 

Ryuji shakes his head a little. "Nah, I'm not tired at the minute so I'll stay up." He thinks faintly that after all his mum has done for him, she deserves to know about his revelation yesterday. "What time will you be back tonight? Cause I wanna talk to you about something, but I don't want to make you late for work." 

She finishes washing her mug and turns to face her son. "If I'm on time I should be back around 8. Maybe a little closer to half past. You sound so nervous Ryuji. Just remember that whatever you have to tell me, you're still my son and I love you so much okay? If I can handle the truth about you being a Phantom Thief last year, I can handle anything." She steps up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to Ryuji's forehead. 

He rubs his forehead slightly as she steps away. "I know mum. Have a good day at work." She smiles and waves at him before leaving their apartment and locking the door behind her. With a slight sigh, Ryuji moves into the kitchen to make himself some breakfast, despite how early it is. 

Compared to Ryuji's morning. Futaba's is much, much worse. Even not compared to someone else's morning hers is terrible. She hadn't been able to get to sleep after Sojiro came home for the night, a couple hours after her conversation with Ryuji. 

So after laying on her bed for a few hours unable to get to sleep, she instead decided to check the cameras set up in the attic. To see if Akira is actually getting some sleep. With a slight sigh, she stands up from her bed to sit at her computers. Pulling up the surveillance footage of the attic, she stares at it for a second in confusion. The camera's aren't relaying any image. Both of the cameras are coming up with a black screen instead. Hoping it's just a malfunction with the cameras, she decides to restart them, hoping it will bring back the image. 

A few minutes later, when the diagnostic comes back telling her that everything is fine with the cameras, her frown grows. Because if there's nothing wrong with the 2 cameras she put up, that means something is blocking them. Only one of them she'd right off as a coincidence. That he'd just moved something in his room and it had covered the camera. But both of them was strange. With a deep breath she listens to what the microphone is picking up. She presses her headphones closer to her ears in the vain hope that it'll help her pick up sounds easier. She turns the volume up, listening for something. For a good minute, she doesn't hear anything, but soon enough she hears footsteps. As she listens to him walk around the room she assumes he's going to uncover the cameras, but the footsteps move away from the mic, towards the stairs. 

For a few minutes, the attic is completely quiet again. But soon enough, the stairs to the attic creak meaning he's coming back up. He patters around the room for a minute before one of the camera's is uncovered. Once the camera focuses again, she pulls herself closer to her screen, checking Akira over, trying to see if he's done anything to hurt himself. 

He steps away from the first camera too quickly to catch anything, but when he lifts his arms to uncover the second camera she sees bandages wrapped around his left wrist. Akira looks into the second camera for a second. Before seeing the little light in the corner which means it's on. His face drops quickly, and his eyes flicker to a corner of the room. Futaba can only watch as he immediately steps out of the view of the camera. He lets out a few curses before he's running to a different part of the room. Futaba listens as he moves things around, most likely putting the knife back where it was or hiding it somewhere else. 

She turns the cameras off to go run and get Sojiro, but once the cameras _are_ off she can only stare at her computer screen for a few seconds. Morgana jumping through her open window is what eventually snaps her out of it. "Futaba? Why haven't you gone to sleep yet?" Her eyes snap from the screen to Morgana, before she jumps out of her chair, sending it flying backwards. 

She runs out of her bedroom without a word to Morgana, opting instead to run down the hall to bang on Sojiro's door. When she doesn't get a reply, she pushes the door open and enters the room with a cry of his name. He wakes up as she shouts him again. "Futaba? What's wrong?" 

She runs towards his bed and starts pulling on his wrist, trying to pull him out of his bed. "It's Akira! I couldn't sleep so I checked the attic cameras to see if Akira was actually getting any sleep. But he'd covered both the cameras. When he finally uncovered them he had a bandage wrapped around his left arm. He swore when he realised the camera was on and immediately left the frame, I think to hide the knife but like I said it was out of frame so I'm not sure." She takes a deep breath after her rant before pulling on his wrist again. "So come _on_." 

The information gets Sojiro out of bed quickly. "Go grab my keys. I'll meet you by the door in a minute." She nods her head once before turning and running out of the room. He swings his legs over the side of his bed with a sigh. "What have you done kid?" He runs a hand down his face before quickly throwing on some clothes and meeting Futaba at the door. She's sat on the doorstep pulling her boots on, with the house keys lying beside her. Quickly shoving his own shoes on, he picks the keys up from beside Futaba and unlocks the door. 

The lights are off when the get to the cafe. As soon as Sojiro unlocks the door, Futaba is pushing past him and running up the stairs. When she gets to the top of the stairs, Akira is sat cross legged on his mattress, facing the stairs with his back resting on the wall. His phone in his hand. 

He looks up at Futaba when she reaches the top of the stairs. She scans his face quickly for any signs of pain or anything similar. But his mask is perfect and Futaba can't find a single crack in it. Frowning at him, she all but stomps towards him, stopping at the edge of the mattress, and stares at him. Sojiro reaches the top of the stairs as the 2 teens engage in their staring contest. Neither willing to give up first. Eventually Futaba holds her hand out. "Give me your arm." 

Akira tilts his head slightly, still pretending not to know what she's on about. "Which one?" Both of them know he's playing dumb. Both of them know that he's been caught, but just like his Shadow he refuses to make it easy for her and it annoys Futaba. 

Not enough to yell at him though. Not yet, at least. "The left." She leaves her hand out, silently telling Akira to get on with it. 

He nods a little, looking over at Sojiro who's watching the interaction quietly, and puts his phone down. As soon as he gives Futaba his arm, she immediately pushes his sleeve up to inspect his arm. She expects to see a bandage like there was on the camera, maybe an attempt to cover it up. She isn't expecting to find nothing. Frowning at the arm in her hand, she runs a finger along his forearm, feeling for any bumps that would be there if he'd broken skin. 

When she doesn't feel anything she drops his arm in confusion and looks up at him. He tilts his head again as he pulls his sleeve back down. "Everything okay, Futaba?" She stares at him for a long second, before casting her glance around the room. Finding nothing out of place she turns to face Sojiro. 

Unsure what to do, Sojiro places a hand on Futaba's shoulder and nudges her in the direction of the stairs. "He's okay, Futaba. So let's go back home." The young teen looks back to Akira before letting out a sigh of defeat and starting down the stairs. 

When Sojiro turns back to stare at Akira, he's sure he's about to get kicked out. That he really has been caught. But then he turns around and follows his daughter out of the cafe. So neither of them see him reach out of the window for the knife he had left on the outside window ledge. 

Once Sojiro and Futaba are back home, Futaba immediately heads into her room. With the teen hiding away in her room, Sojiro turns back to the door. Akira was hiding something from Futaba, and he's going to find out what it is. As he goes to open the door to leave, he realises that Futaba will most likely be watching the attic cameras again. He doesn't want her to listen in on the conversation he's going to have with the teen sat in his cafe attic. 

He walks down the corridor towards Futaba's room. He knocks twice before opening her door, seeing Futaba lying face down on her bed. "Get some sleep okay Futaba?" She lifts her head up a little, her eyes glancing towards her computer screen, before she drops her head back down again and giving a small hum of agreement. 

He stares at her for a few seconds before closing her door. Morgana is stood in front of him as he starts walking down the hall. "You can understand me right?" Morgana nods his head twice. "Okay. I'm going back to Leblanc to talk to Akira, make sure she goes to sleep okay? Or at least keep her off her computer." He opens the door again for Morgana as the Cat sits in front of Futaba's door. He shakes his head a little as he enters the room. Knowing that the Cat understands him is one thing. Knowing that Futaba, Akira and their friends can all talk to him normally is another. But talking to him himself, without any one to play translator is it's own thing all together. 

But he doesn't have any time to dwell on that, not right now at least. Because he needs to go talk to Akira before the teen comes up with a proper cover story to tell him. He knows Akira is intelligent, and that coming up with a believable story to hide what truly happened would be nothing for him. 

The lights are still off when he gets back to Leblanc. He locks the door behind him just in case, and heads straight for the stairs. When he reaches the top, and can see that Akira practically hasn't moved since they left. The teen looks up at him when after a few steps into the attic. He doesn't move mostly, just raises his head to stare at Sojiro. Sojiro stares back for a few seconds, trying to find any tells the teen might have that would tell him that something's wrong. But when he doesn't find anything, he lets out a sigh and leans against the table resting against the railing. 

Akira watches him in silence still, his head tilted slightly, Sojiro can almost see the gears turning in his head. Trying to figure out why he came back. "Look. You know why I'm here. I know why I'm here, but I'm no good with all these feelings and stuff so you have to help me out." 

Akira stares at him for a few seconds, his eyes flicking around the room. "I actually _don't_ know why you're here." 

Sojiro stares at him back. "Akira. I'm here because despite how I look and act, I care about you. Like I care about Futaba. So please help me out here. Futaba worries that you've hurt yourself, but seen as you won't allow her close enough to see for whatever reason, you can let me in instead." 

The teen just continues to stare at him. But little by little his mask begins to crack, piece by piece until it lies in pieces around him. Sojiro may not be able to see the mask as it falls, but he can tell when it has because Akira slinks down on his mattress, holding his right wrist closer to his chest. "Why?" 

The question takes Sojiro by surprise. Sometimes he forgets after all he's been through that the teen sat in front of him is just that, a teen. Barely a year older than Futaba. He moves slowly through the attic, dropping himself onto the mattress beside the boy. Gently pulling Akira's arm away from his chest he starts unwrapping the bandages. 

Once all of his wrist is exposed, Sojiro feels his heart drop to his stomach. He's pretty sure it shattered when it hit the bottom too. He's already failed to help one teen going through a hard time, nor has he fully forgiven himself for failing Futaba. No matter how many times she insists that it's fine and that there's nothing to forgive. He doesn't want to have to go through all of that again. Because Akira is even more self sacrificing then Futaba, so it wouldn't even cross his mind to blame Sojiro for not helping him or noticing sooner. Even though he's now permanently under Sojiro's care and that makes it literally his job. 

The sight that brought all of these thoughts on, is the damage Akira has done to his wrist. There are 15 lines in total running down Akira's wrist, no they span his entire forearm at this point. But perhaps the most upsetting thing, other than the fact that he'd cut his wrists at all. Is how neat the lines are. Like he put effort into keeping all the lines uniform. The gaps between them are nearly exact, and they each span the full length of his wrist. Reaching from one side of his arm to the other, but carefully done enough to not be seen from the other side of his arm. "Akira.... Why?" He keeps his touch on Akira's wrist light, not exactly knowledgeable with how to deal with such injuries, but knowing enough that he shouldn't irritate the cuts anymore than they already are. 

Akira allows Sojiro to examine his cuts. "Why what? Why did I do it? If that's what you're asking, I don't know. It makes me feel better. However temporary that feeling may be." He starts trying to pull his wrist back towards his chest when he realises how vulnerable he's allowing himself to be. "You still haven't answered my question. Why are you here? Why do you care about me? My own parents realised how useless I was to have around." 

Sojiro grabs onto Akira's elbow as gently as he can, to stop the teen from pulling his arm back completely. "I don't have a reason for caring about you, Akira. I just do. Alright? And if your own parents are too shitty to realise what an amazing kid you are then that's their fault." He looks between Akira's arms for a second in confusion. He's pretty sure Futaba asked to look at the other arm. "Why didn't Futaba ask to see this arm?" 

Akira drops his head a little, but points to the bandages. "When I was uncovering the cameras, I had the bandages wrapped around my left arm instead of my right on the off chance that she was watching the cameras. So that if she came to check on me, she wouldn't realise she was checking the wrong arm." He shakes his right arm a little bit. "Turns out my paranoia and caution paid off." 

Sojiro picks up the bandages off the bed. "You did actually clean these right?" 

Akira nods his head minutely. "I have some stuff left over from when I got back from the interrogation room. I've been doing it for long enough to know how to clean them." Sojiro looks up from the arm he's re-bandaging. 

Opening his mouth a few times, looking for something to say, Sojiro looks around his room as he ties the bandage off. "Where's the knife?" 

Akira snaps his head up. "It's not one of yours. I wouldn't do that." 

A frown forms on Sojiro's face again, as he rests his gaze on Akira. "I didn't think you had. I just want to know where the knife is so I can take it from you so you can't do this again." The teen looks around the room, his gaze flickering. "Kid, please. You know I'm not good at this stuff, but I'm trying. I want to help you." 

Akira's gaze flickers a few more times before he nods. With a slight sigh he stands up from the mattress. Sojiro chooses to not mention how his knees buckle slightly under his weight, nor how Akira is seemingly so used to this that it doesn't hinder his movement at all. 

Stepping onto the chair beside the mattress, he raises his arm and pulls down a knife, with the blade wrapped up, probably to stop it from getting covered in dust. He didn't waste a second when reaching for the knife which tells Sojiro how many times he's probably reached for it. When Sojiro takes the knife from him, he's shocked by the weight of it and takes a second to unwrap the blade. "This is a good knife. Where did you get it?" 

Akira scratches the back of his head. "From the airsoft shop in Shibuya. It's the knife I was using just before we stopped being the Phantom Thieves." His eyes land on the knife, staring at it longingly. "I could never bring myself to get rid of it." Forcing his gaze away from the knife, he looks over to the desk. "I have um, I have a few more. The one from the start of the Phantom Thieves as well as one I already had before everything." 

Sojiro wraps the blade back up when Akira's gaze drops back down to it. "Give them to me." 

Akira nods silently, walking towards the side of the attic and pulling a knife from where he was hiding it. When he hands that one to Sojiro as well, he turns to his desk, where his last knife lays. "Can I keep this last one? It's a butterfly knife and I use it when I get bored." When Sojiro narrows his eyes at him he shakes his head. "Not like that." He picks up the knife from his desk. Turning back to Sojiro, he flicks the locking mechanism and flips the knife to reveal the blade. "You flip them to reveal the actual knife part. I spent months learning tricks with it and do them when I get bored." 

Sojiro frowns at him for a minute, before standing up. "If you promise me that you won't use it to hurt yourself you can keep it. If you can't promise me that give it to me."

After folding and locking the knife, Akira places it back on the desk with a small nod. "I promise." 

Sojiro nods his head in agreement. "I expect you to uphold that promise." When Akira nods his head again, Sojiro walks to the stairs. "Right. Well I'm heading back home for the night. You should go to sleep as well." Akira doesn't give much of a response, barely a nod and Sojiro distantly recognises that it's because he's busy putting his mask back into place. Putting it back piece by broken piece.

When he gets back to his house, he checks on Futaba to make sure that she did actually go to sleep. With all of that done, he heads to his own room to go back to sleep. But before he can do that, he realises he needs somewhere to put the knives he took from Akira. Preferably somewhere that Futaba won't see them. Meaning they have to stay in his room as it's the only one in the house she doesn't go into unless she has to. Once the knives are safe he allows himself to fall back asleep for a few more hours before he has to open the cafe. 

Futaba wakes up before Sojiro has to return to Leblanc. The first thing she does is pick her phone up and open the group chat with the rest of the Thieves. She types out a message before changing her mind. The rest of the group still don't know about Akira's self harming tendencies. She doesn't want to tell them now. 

Instead she pulls up Ryuji's contact and messages him. He already knows about Akira hurting himself so she won't be betraying Akira to talk to the blonde about it. But part of her is still hesitant to tell him, after all she's almost certain that Akira _did_ hurt himself yesterday. But when she went to check she found nothing and is unsure now as to what she saw on the cameras. After starting and restarting her message several times, she finally decides to message him. 

**Futaba:** Are you awake? Please be awake

Ryuji's reply comes almost instantly much to her relief. 

**Ryuji:** Yeah I'm awake

 **Ryuji:** Why what's up?

 **Futaba:** It's Akira. I was checking on the cameras earlier and I'm almost certain that he'd hurt himself again, but when I dragged Sojiro to Leblanc to check on him I didn't find anything. 

**Ryuji:** When was this?

 **Futaba:** A few hours ago. I took a few hours to sleep after I got back having not slept at all the rest of the night. 

**Ryuji:** Well what are you going to do? 

**Ryuji:** It's not like we can just ask him about it he'd talk circles around us if we tried

 **Futaba:** That's true, but what I'm more worried about is how it's affected his Palace. 

**Futaba:** I'm pretty sure this is the first time he's done this since we started it. On such a level at least and I'm worried it might make it deteriorate even faster....

 **Ryuji:** Oh fuck unfortunately that would make sense so you want to go in today to check? 

**Futaba:** Yes, I don't know if everyone will be free on such short notice, but even if it's just the 2 of us I want to check on it.

 **Ryuji:** I'll message the others, you get a few more hours sleep. If no one else is free, then I'll come get you in a bit and the 2 of us can go 

**Futaba:** Alright. Just don't tell them why I want to go in okay. I don't want to have to tell them about the self harm. 

**Ryuji:** Neither do I, Futaba. I'll just tell them that when I saw Akira the other day he didn't look to good so we want to try and get a bit further in before we run out of time 

**Ryuji:** That sound good? 

**Futaba:** That sounds good. 

With that Futaba locks her phone and collapses backwards onto her bed. Set to fall asleep for a few more hours. Knowing that because it's about Akira, that Ryuji can be trusted to take care of everything for an hour or two. No matter how unreliable he can be at other times. She knows well enough by now that Ryuji will do anything for Akira. Meaning that he's most likely already sent the message to the other Thieves asking who can meet up. 

Ryuji had indeed already sent the message into the group chat. (The one they made without Akira specifically for their exploration into his Palace). He sent it as soon as Futaba left their conversation. 

**Ryuji:** Are any of you free to head into Akira's Palace today? It's cool if not just lemme know 

**Ann:** Ryuji, it's still early why are you asking us now? 

**Ryuji:** It's just that I saw Akira yesterday when I was heading home. He didn't look so good so I wanted to try and get further through his Palace before we run out of time completely.

 **Yusuke:** I believe none of the 4 of us high schoolers have school today correct? So as long as no one has any former plans, at least 4 of us can go today. 

**Yusuke:** I'm afraid I don't know what Makoto and Haru are doing today though. 

**Makoto:** I have college today. So I can't go today. I believe Haru has a meeting so I'm not sure if she'll be able to go either.

 **Haru:** You're right Mako. I unfortunately do have a meeting today and I'm not sure what time it's going to end. 

**Ryuji:** Don't worry about it. So it's just Ann and Yusuke coming yeah?

A wave of confirmation rushes through the conversation. 

**Ryuji:** Great 

**Ryuji:** Meet me in front of Futaba's house in a few hours. She needs a few hours of sleep first. 

**Yusuke:** Understood. Should we meet at 1? 

**Ryuji:** Sounds great. See you both later 

He closes the conversation as everyone agrees to meet in Yongen at 1. With the other Thieves in agreement to head into their leaders Palace again, he goes back to conversation with Futaba.

 **Ryuji:** You're probably already asleep, but I'll let you know now anyway. Only Ann and Yusuke are free. We're meeting in front of yours at 1. Make sure to let Mona know what's going on when you wake up.

With everything done for now, he leans back into his couch cushions. It was just the excuse he used to get the Thieves to agree to meet with them today. But Akira really didn't look too great when he saw him yesterday. 

With a little over 6 hours to kill, Ryuji tries to think of something that would help him pass the time until they meet up. Usually he'd ask Akira to hang out with him for a bit. But he knows that Akira wouldn't even respond to his message, never mind accepting the invitation. 

He sinks further into the cushions with a sigh. He knows he can't resent Akira for that. Even if he was physically capable of resenting Akira for anything, or feeling any negative emotions towards or about the other boy. But it does hurt him a little, to know that Akira won't let him in. Despite the fact that he's spoken to Akira's Shadow himself, and knows perfectly well how much Akira wants everyone to leave him. But Ryuji can't help but feel that it's a misguided way of protecting himself. After all both of his parents have decided twice now that Akira wasn't worth having around or loving. 

It seems to be a way he devise to protect himself from that happening again. By pushing away everyone around him, letting no one get close to him. Especially not his Thieves. The ones who have already proved that they would and have followed them into hell. The ones who will stop at nothing but to help him. The only ones in the world with the power to physically force himself to confront his emotions. No matter if they don't have it any more as far as he knows. To him they're probably the biggest threat. To him they hold the most power over his emotions. Them with Sojiro following right behind them. And if they were to decide like his parents that he isn't worth caring for, isn't worth loving it would most likely destroy him. So he needs to keep them at arms distance. 

The only thing that could disprove his hypothesis about Akira's actions is the fact that he doesn't seem to be acting as aloof with Sojiro. He knows from what Futaba's told them that he's apparently more distant than Sojiro was to _him_ when Akira first got to Tokyo. Which from what Ryuji remembers was pretty distant. But he's not flat out ignoring him like he's doing with the Thieves. 

One thing Ryuji knows for _sure_ though, is the fact that the only reason Futaba has heard more than three words from Akira since they brought him back is because she's Sojiro's daughter. And if he were to do anything that truly upsets her, he'd have to face Sojiro's wrath. And putting aside the fact that angering Sojiro to such a level would _also_ be extremely bad for Akira's mental state. Ryuji knows for a fact that Akira isn't stupid enough, even at his lowest point, to uselessly incur Sojiro's ire. 

When Ryuji finally manages to pull himself out of his thoughts, he sees that only an hour has passed. He heaves a sigh as he pushes himself off of his couch, set on looking through their kitchen to see if they have anything to eat for breakfast. 

A quick look through their fridge and cupboards tells him that they have enough cereal left for a bowl. He adds cereal to the small shopping list they have hung up on the fridge. A list that is growing with no way for Ryuji to help pay for seen as he hasn't been accepted for any jobs yet. 

But in his defence. He was moping about Akira for 3 months, then got busy about helping with the plan to bring Akira home. Since the he hasn't been looking as hard as he should have been, busy worrying about Akira and his Palace. Looking again at the growing list, he promises himself to look harder for one once they finish helping Akira. He thinks of Akira's many jobs in his first year in Tokyo and how easily he appeared to get them. But then he thinks about the jobs he applied for in the first place. A convenience store that was dealing with mostly younger applicants, at least when he applied, the flower shop in the underground station which had no applications and the beef bowl shop, where Ryuji sometimes saw him working. On his own, meaning that they were also more than likely in dire need of applicants. With Crossroads being the last job he got, and the one he went back for upon his arrival back in Tokyo. But after asking Futaba for a bit more info about that job, he got it in the first place because frequently talking to the reporter who frequents and Lala, the owner, eventually took a shine to him. 'How can you not take a shine to him though?' Ryuji thinks to himself.

But putting the bar job to the side for now, he goes back to thinking about the other ones. When Akira first came to Tokyo he was fresh out of court with a probation sentence tied to his ankle, and a false assault charge wrapped around his neck. Akira is smart, Ryuji is well aware of this, which means Akira knew that anywhere that had the time or luxury of completing a background check, would find out about his record and he'd be turned down instantly. But he also knew that he needed the money. Ryuji has known Akira since his second (possibly third, he isn't really sure) day in Tokyo. Akira got his first job at the convenience store his first week there. And before he even had the chance to be jobless again, since he knew that it was only a matter of time before they finally did a background check and learnt about his criminal record, he already had the beef bowl and flower shop jobs on the go. So when he did lose his job at the convenience store, 2 months into his employment, he wasn't even out of work for a day. He took just one look at the system and out thought it immediately. Went straight for the places that he knew couldn't afford the luxury of being picky about their employees. So that as long as he played by the rules, he would be safe. 

The only problem about doing that, is that it only really works if you're not looking for long time employment. Akira knew he'd only be in Tokyo for a year so he could afford to play by that rule book. But Ryuji's going to need at least some form of stability in a job. Meaning he'll have to actually get his grades up. He shudders at thinking how many late nights of studying that's going to need. If it comes to it, maybe Haru's company needs a loud annoying teenager who's only really good for brute force. He'd at least probably be useful in one of the warehouses she's setting up. Where you do actually need a bit of strength. He lets out a small sigh. It's not a bad plan in theory, but he doesn't want to take advantage of Haru like that. He wants to at least try and get a job of his own merit. But he knows Haru would never let him drown like that and would at least try and help him, so he puts the idea on the back burner for now. Way, way at the back of his mind and labels it as a last ditch attempt. Only to be used when he truly has tried everything else to the best of his abilities and exhausted all his other options. 

With the idea firmly locked in the back of his mind, he shakes his head and frees himself from his musings. The thoughts may have occurred in the first place because he wants to be able to help his mum, but right now Akira is a much more dire situation. So he washes his bowl and places the now empty box of cereal on the recycling pile. Unsure how long he'd been in his own head again, he checks the time on his phone. Another hour has passed. 

He stares at his screen for a second, unsure as to how there's still a little more than 4 hours to kill. He thinks for a second before setting an alarm for 12:15. That should give him more than enough time to get to Futaba's to meet the others. With the alarm set he retreats into his room to waste time reading manga. 

At exactly 12:15 the alarm goes, off and Ryuji practically jumps to his feet, having forgotten that he set an alarm. He quickly pulls on a pair of trainers and jogs towards the station. 

Futaba and Morgana are already waiting outside when he turns the corner to the house. Neither Ann or Yusuke are there yet, so he pulls his phone out to check the time. Still a little over 10 minutes until they agreed to meet. He walks over to the 2 of them, waving his hand in greeting. "I'm not surprised you're here first Ryuji." 

He just shrugs at Morgana's teasing. "Yeah yeah. I made the plan with Futaba. It wouldn't be right for me to be late would it? Ya damn Cat." He ignores the way Morgana bristles at the insult, causing Morgana to settle down on the wall beside Futaba's head."Did you actually manage to get any more sleep Futaba?" 

She nods her head with a small sigh. "A few hours. I went to sleep almost straight after we finished talking but woke up only an hour later. Saw your text, set an alarm for half 12 and went back to sleep." Ryuji nods his head slightly, glad that Futaba had actually managed to get some rest. 

10 minutes later and they were joined by Ann and Yusuke. Ryuji and Futaba share an uneasy look as he opens the bookmarks tab and selects Akira's Palace. The other 3 manage to catch it but they decide not to bring it up for now. 

When they appear back in front of it, it doesn't seem to be any worse off than when they left it. Which is a big relief to the two. Ann turns to the two of them, with a raised eyebrow but she doesn't actually ask them about it. Instead she just holds her thumb up in the direction of the Palace. "You ready to go?" They both nod their heads quickly, and follow the others to the furthest Safe Room in. "Skull, did you find the door to the next floor in the train station when we were here last? Because no one else managed to find anything." 

Ryuji nods his head slightly. "I didn't see it, I got sidetracked by talking to the Shadow. But yeah I'm pretty sure it's in the train station. I heard a door slam somewhere in there when his Shadow left me after all." 

Ann raises her eyebrow slightly. "You heard a door *slam*? What did you say to him Skull?" 

Ryuji glowers at her jokingly as they make there way down the streets towards the station. "I didn't say anything! Jeez, he just got mad when I told him we weren't gonna leave and he stormed off. He definitley has Akira's dramatic flair." Ann chuckles slightly at that, as do the other Thieves. Akira may have blended in when he came to Tokyo, but he _loved_ being dramatic and Joker was the perfect way to show that off. Ryuji used to swear that there wasn't a bone in Akira's body that wasn't extra in one way or another. 

Morgana pushes him towards the door. "Lead the way then, Skull." Ryuji rolls his eyes a little as he moves to the front of the group with Futaba. 

He leans down to talk to her. "It doesn't seem to be in any worse of a state than what we left it in. Are you sure that's what you saw him doing?" Futaba glares at him, a frown set on her face. "I believe you when you told me what you saw. But I would've thought that his Palace would've worsened at least somewhat, but it seems to be exactly the same." 

Futaba nods her head slightly. "I know, that's what I assumed as well. But it doesn't seem to be the case." 

Morgana walks up to the two, standing in between them. "I don't exactly know what you two are on about even though I have an idea. But Sojiro might have something to do with it." The two Thieves look down at their smallest member. "He went back to the cafe once he brought you back. Was there for about half an hour, asked me to keep you off of your cameras." 

Futaba and Ryuji share a quick glance. "Maybe he went to confront him without me being there. Which could explain the lack of deterioration we're seeing. Because for Sojiro to go back by himself _specifically_ to confront Akira about having hurt himself, it shows that he cares about him. Despite how hard Akira is trying to push us all away." She looks around the group and up at the train station they're coming up to. "That might have been exactly what he needed. For someone like Sojiro, who can be quite distanced, to show that he cares about him. Someone other than one of us, who even though he probably thinks we lost it last year. At one point we had the power to change his heart if we realised what was wrong with him." She stops in her tracks and looks down to Morgana. "Do you think he knows he has a Palace, even if he doesn't know the Metaverse is back?" 

Morgana nods his head a little. "It's possible, I guess. After all, this place has clearly been here for a while, so he probably knew about it while we were acting as Phantom Thieves last year. Meaning that he'd know it would still exist seen as we never did anything about it." 

Ryuji grumbles at them. "Yeah, well that's about to change. Let's go." Morgana opens his mouth to tease him, but decides against it and follows the others into the station. 

Futaba stops them when they get inside. "I know you said you didn't see the door, Skull. But do you have a clue as to where it should be?" 

Ryuji nods his head quickly. "Yeah." He stretches his arm and points to the back of the station. "It should be somewhere in the back. I was about halfway in when he appeared in front of me after all. And the door slam didn't sound all that far away." With a few nods they all start moving again. 

They don't have any plans to stop until, Futaba stops suddenly, causing Ryuji to walk into him. Which causes a chain reaction as the other Thieves all have to come to a sudden stop. "Oracle? What's wrong?" He raises his head to look over Futaba's in confusion. His confusion grows when he sees what Futaba is staring at. The door in front of them looks extremely out of place. Not for the Palace on a whole because the door in front of them seems to be a cell door. But it doesn't fit in with the station. Or the rest of the Palace if she really thinks about it. All of the other doors have fit in with the individual floors and have been grey like everything else outside of the Safe Rooms. But this one door, is a bright blue, with a bright blue smoke trailing out from underneath the door. 

Morgana walks closer to it in surprise. "Hey guys? I'm pretty sure this is a door to the Velvet room." They all look over to him in confusion. "You know the place where we ended up when we were wiped from existence?" That does get a few nods of understanding. 

Futaba walks over to Morgana who is stood right next to the door. "So it should be safe to go through right?" 

Morgana nods his head. "As safe as any other door in the Palace." 

With a quick hum, Futaba steps in front of the door to open it. On the other side of the door is a long thin hallway. The walls are the same blue as the door and smoke, while the floor is black. There are chains hanging from the walls, and that same blue smoke covering the ground. 

Yusuke calls out to them when Ann goes to follow them. "I understand we want to help Akira. But would it not be wise to wait for Queen and Noir, to explore further? Surely having everyone would be preferable when we have to explore a new area?" 

Futaba looks between Yusuke and the corridor a few times before sighing and stepping out of the door. "You're right, Fox." She looks up at Ryuji when she realises he doesn't want to go. "We've seen what we came to check for. And Inari is right. It *would* be better to have a full team. After all we have no idea what could be waiting for us in there and we I don't believe any of us are fully used to having our Persona's back yet. So it would be preferable to have everyone." 

Ryuji stares at Futaba for a few seconds before nodding. "You're right. Let's head out." When they leave the Metaverse, Ryuji turns to others. "I just remembered I wanted to talk to my mum tonight. Can I leave it to you to ask Makoto and Haru when they're next free?" As soon as they agree, he turns and heads for the train station. 

It's only half 6 when Ryuji makes it back home. Meaning he has about 2 hours before his mum comes home. He sets an alarm for 8 and heads into his room, deciding to sleep for a few hours before his mum gets back. 

He wakes up not to his alarm, but his mum knocking on his door. "Ryuji? You home?" 

The blonde sits up in his bed and glances it down at his phone. He had somehow managed to sleep through his alarm despite the fact this his phone was right next to his face. "Yeah, yeah I'm home. Sorry mum I set an alarm so I would be up when you got home but I slept through it." 

His mum just lets out a small laugh, more of a breath really. "It's fine, Yuji. You still want to talk to me?" 

He nods his head and pulls himself up properly. "Yeah, if you're not too tired." 

She shakes her head quickly, a soft smile on her lips. "I always have time for you, Ryuji. You know that." Ryuji chuckles as she moves into his doorway, rather than poking her head into the room. "Will this talk require tea?" 

Ryuji smiles at her a little. "Which means, you want a cup of tea." 

His mum tilts her head from side to side a few times. "Maybe. But do you want to have this talk on the couch in your room or on the couch?" 

Ryuji thinks for a second before answering. "Couch." With that he stands up and follows his mum out of the room. While his mum heads to the kettle to make her drink, Ryuji all but throws himself onto the couch and makes himself comfortable. 

His mum walks back into the room 2 minutes later, with a cup of tea. She takes the seat next to him, crossing her legs underneath her. Ryuji takes a few deep breaths as Michiko sips her tea. "Take your time, Yuji." 

He glances over at her, nods once, and turns on the couch until he's facing her. "I.... I like both boys and girls." He takes a small breath before looking up at her. "Bisexual. I'm bisexual." Michiko rests her mug on her knee.

She places a hand on her sons shoulder before he can start rambling even more, making sure to keep her mug stable with the other. "Ryuji. I love you no matter what. Okay? You being bisexual doesn't change that in the slightest." She removes her hand from his shoulder and gives him a bright smile. "But thank you for telling me. It makes me really happy that you trust me enough to tell me." She leans down to place her mug on the floor and turns to Ryuji with a slight smirk, one that wouldn't look out of place on Ann or Futaba's face. Or Akira's all 3 of them are too sassy and conniving for their own good. "With that new information you've given me. Is there anything going on between you and Akira?" 

Ryuji lets out a breath of air. His mum had literally *just* told him that she's okay with him being bi. But her teasing him immediately after about his relationship with Akira is the best proof of that fact. "It's not like that." She raises an eyebrow at him. "Okay, alright. I do like him. I have for a while now, but I only realised it like yesterday." Michiko opens her mouth to ask something but Ryuji answers it before she can. "But before you ask, *no* I'm not going to tell him. Not right now at least. He's in a really bad place right now and we're trying to help him. But neither I, nor Futaba who helped me come to terms with the fact that I like him, are sure what it would to him if I told him right now." 

The smile slides off of her face and she rubs him arm softly. "I know it probably isn't the way you want to go about this now that you've realised you like him. But you're doing the right thing by taking his state into account. Which if nothing else, proves how much you truly care about him.And when he starts feeling about him you can tell him then." Ryuji nods his head slightly. "Thank you for telling me all of this Ryuji. Knowing that you trust me with all of this really does make everything worth it. You know what, when you manage to help Akira, bring him round here. It's clear how much you care about him and I'd love to finally meet the boy who made you smile again." 

Ryuji feels a blush rise to his cheeks, and nods his head silently. "I will do. I'm sure you'll love him mum." 

Michiko smiles at him. "I'm sure I will Ryuji. Now, how about some food?" 

Ryuji grins at her easily. "Sounds great mum." 

Picking up her discarded tea, she stands up and moves into the kitchen. "Sort the table out Ryuji?" He nods his head a few times before looking through their cupboards. Ryuji clears and sets the table with a smile on his face. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason the links between all the plot points I have planned aren't coming to me as I'd like as usual so please be patient with me if the chapters take a while to come out


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Thieves learn the truth of what happened to Akira in the interrogation room

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are a few references to the self harm in last chapters in here, but nothing is described 
> 
> Oh but there is physical abuse and drug abuse described quite at length because it's not the interrogation scene without it lets be honest and after the interrogation room scene Akira's Shadow says something alluding to the detective being a creep because Akira is pretty (I cannot remember for the life of me what the word for that is I just know I don't mean Paedophile, I'm thinking of a specific word for it. I'm really really sorry about that) but nothing comes from it and it's literally just the one sentence. 
> 
> I'm pretty sure that that's everything I need to warn you for, so please read with caution if any of these things could trigger you

While Ryuji runs off to go home and talk to his mum, Futaba and the rest message Makoto and Haru to sort out their next infiltration date. It takes them only 15 minutes along with Haru rearranging a meeting before they settle on a date. The earliest they can all meet up to continue Akira's Palace is in a weeks time. With the date set, Ann and Yusuke head home, leaving Futaba alone to turn around and enter her house, with Morgana following behind her. 

The next week of waiting is painful for every single one of the Thieves. They each want to help Akira as quickly as possible, but they know that Yusuke was right in what he said. They don't know what could be lying in wait for them behind that door, and so they need to be careful about it. Akira's Shadow has told them that he doesn't want to hurt them, so as a result there have been no Shadows on the prior floors. But that doesn't mean he'll keep that up forever. Especially because he has asked all of them to leave multiple times, both as a group and appearing to each of them individually. If they continue to go against what he's asking them to do, there's no guarantee that he'll continue to be so lenient. That he might eventually send dangerous Shadows after them. And if that _does_ eventually happen, it would be better to have the whole group together. 

But knowing all of that and understanding it doesn't make it any easier at all to comply with. Ryuji especially, wants desperately to go against their agreement to not go exploring on their own. He was much more than impatient to finish each of the Palaces that they entered last year. Just wanting so badly to rid the world of at least one more shitty adult. With Akira being their target this time, he's even more impatient to complete the Palace, and all of them know it. One of the only thing that's kept him from exploring on his own before their next infiltration is the fact that if he gets hurt by going in there on his own, it will push back the date further while they wait for him to heal. Which will also extend the time until Akira's Palace is gone and he can start to get better. Ryuji may be impatient and hot headed, but he is in _no way_ willing to make Akira worse, or even risk that, by being so. As such he accepts it and waits it out with the others. 

When the end of the week arrives, they meet up in front of Futaba's house again, to finally go back to Akira's Palace. It doesn't take them too long to make it back to the door. Makoto and Haru have to take a few seconds to stare at the door in surprise when they get to it. Both shocked to see something coloured in this Palace outside of a Safe Room. The others all allow them a few extra seconds to get over their shock while Futaba opens the door. "Let's go." Morgana sneaks in front of her to lead the group down the dark hallway. 

It hasn't changed since the last time they were here. Still looking the same and still barely fitting two of the Thieves if they're walking side by side. Almost as soon as everyone is in the hallway and away from the door, they hear it close behind them. Ann jumps at the noise and goes to check whether it locked behind them, but Makoto stops her with a hand on her arm. "It's fine, Panther. We need to be moving forwards anyway. We can check if it's locked later." The blonde nods her head slightly before turning back around to continue through the hallway. 

The group walk for what feels like hours, but has really only been about 20 minutes according to Futaba, when they finally see it. A door at the end of the hallway. An exact copy of the one they walked through to get here. Futaba moves to the front of the group again and tries her best to peek through the bars, to see what's on the other side, but the bright blue smoke prevents any attempt at doing so. With a small sigh she turns to the others. "I can't see through the smoke. So I don't know what's on the other side despite the fact that the door is made of bars." Makoto nods in acceptance of the information and slips through the Thieves to position herself in front of the door. 

She places a hand on it, ready to push it open. "Let's go then." With that she pushes on the bars and the door swings open. Causing the chains on the hallway walls to rattle slightly at the gust of wind it creates. Makoto steps out of the hallway first, leading the Thieves into the room. "There's colour...." She says in surprise despite having just been in a completely blue hallway. "Well, there's _a_ colour." She says with less surprise in her tone as Haru stands beside her. 

The Psy user nods her head slowly. "You're right. It really is a lot of blue. What did you say this place was modelled after, Mona?" She barely even takes her eyes off of the room around her as she tilts her head towards the feline. 

Morgana walks through the door, takes a few steps in the room and walks around for a few seconds before answering. "I thought it was modelled after the Velvet Room. But apart from the colour and the design of the cells, this looks nothing like it." He looks around slightly, the room is _full_ of cells. But all of them are empty. 

Futaba starts walking around the room, prompting the others to do the same. "Hey, you guys? What do you think this is for?" She points at the top of the cell she stopped in front of. 

Ryuji comes to stand beside her. "What's what for?" 

Futaba rolls her eyes slightly, standing on her tip toes to be closer to the top of the cell. " _That_. The Roman numerals. And.... Oh. Hey, Mona?" She looks away from the cell to face him, throwing her head over her shoulder. "Did Akira have any tarot cards?" 

Morgana tilts his head from where he's watching them. "No. No I don't think so. Why?" 

Futaba lowers her arm finally. "Because underneath the Roman numerals is a word. It says Hierophant. The Hierophant is a Major Arcana card. The numerals match as well, with the Hierophant being the 5th of the Major Arcana." 

Morgana starts walking over to them as he thinks. It finally dawns on him when he comes to a stop in front of them. "Igor." Futaba looks down at him in confusion. "The owner of the Velvet Room. He called Akira the trickster, but Yaldabaoth, called him the fool. He was gifted the world from the real Igor and Lavenza after we defeated the Holy Grail." He stares up at the top of the cell, only just being able to see the writing but not quite tall enough even in this form to make out the words. "The Fool is the first of the Major Arcana. The start of the journey with the World meant to represent the end. Right?" Futaba nods her head slowly. "Maybe these cells represent the people he met during his year in Tokyo." 

Futaba looks around at the other cells, each of them having Roman numerals and one of the Major Arcana carved into the top of them. "You might be right." She moves to the next cell over. "But they aren't going in any kind of order though. The Roman numerals here read 7, but the last one was 5." She points back at the cell to make her point. 

Ann looks up at the one she's stood in front of. "Maybe it's based on who he met first? So like, it'd go in the order of who he met matched with whichever Arcana they were assigned." 

Makoto looks away from the cell behind her to Ann. "That does seem to make sense." 

Yusuke casts a quick glance around the room, before looking back to the Thieves. "Is it just me or does something feel off about this room?" Haru nods her head slowly from beside Makoto. "So it isn't just me then, glad to hear it." 

Futaba speaks up from where she was staring at her screens. "Let's look around this room a little more. See if he has someone pegged for each of the Major Arcana." With a few sharp nods, the Thieves split up and begin searching the room properly. 

10 minutes later, and they're standing in front of the door to what they can only assume is the next room. "We're missing 7." She looks from the door, to the other cells that litter the room. "Could they be further in? Because there's 21 major Arcana and I'm pretty sure Akira knows enough people to fill out each card." 

Haru follows Futaba's gaze before settling it on the door in front of them. "If they are further in, do you suppose that the missing cells might be for the Arcana that he associates with us?" The others turn to look at her, a thoughtful look on each of their faces. "After all would it not make more sense for him to keep all of them together in one room?" 

Yusuke nods his head slightly. "You may be right. After all, his Shadow has done nothing but try to keep us out and get us to leave. But maybe he's keeping our cells further in, closer to his treasure so that we're close to him even when he doesn't want us to be." 

Futaba frowns slightly, looking from Yusuke to Haru. "But that's so sad. Because if that _is_ what he's doing wouldn't it be way more effective as a form of punishment than a thing of comfort?" 

Yusuke nods his head sadly. "I believe that that may even be the point, Oracle." Futaba glares at him, so he holds his hands up to calm her down. "I don't like it either. But the way that he's been acting in the real world seems to point to the fact that he knows that we want to help him. Akira may well be using it as a twisted way of proving to himself that he isn't worth anyone caring about him." 

Ryuji glares at the door in front of them. "Well fuck that! Let's get going." They turn to Ryuji with solemn smiles as they move towards the door. Their determination to help Akira renewed, even though it had never been depleted in the first place.

Ryuji steps through the door first, partly surprised that it didn't just lead to another corridor. Walking into the room _does_ cause him to do a double take though. Because this _is_ the Velvet Room. Unless he's remembering it wrong. He turns to Morgana as he enters the room. "Yo, Mona. This is that Velvet Room place right?" 

Morgana nods his head a few times after scanning the room quickly. "Yeah. It's an exact replica." It even has Igor's desk in the middle of the large circular room. "The only thing it's missing is Igor sitting behind that desk. And Lavenza who would usually be stood beside it. But other than that, yeah, it's exactly the same." 

Ann pushes past them to stand in the middle of the room. "This is another room of cells right? Maybe the cells that were missing from the last room will be in here." Makoto nods in agreement and joins Ann in looking for the missing cells. The others following shortly after. 

Morgana is the one to find Akira's cell. Which really it would have been odd if he _hadn't_ been the one to find it, he went looking for it after all. Because he knew that if this really is a replica of the Velvet Room then Akira's cell should be here as well. "Akira...." The name comes out quietly, when he sees the teen's Shadow lying on the bed. He stares at the boy in the prisoners outfit for a minute before being joined by the others. One of them goes to tell him that the missing cells are indeed here but they cut themselves off almost immediately when they see what Morgana is staring silently at. 

The Shadow doesn't pay any attention to them. He continues to lay on the bed, one leg hanging off with a ball and chain attached to it once again,while he throws a knife up in the air. 6 more times they watch as the Shadow throws the knife and catches it, still not paying any attention to them. As he goes to throw it a 7th, Yusuke steps closer to the cell, now standing in front of the group surrounding the cell. "Akira, would you tell us what those cells are?" The Shadow stops in his movements for just a second before continuing his action. Yusuke tries again. "The cells are for each of the people that you met in Tokyo, correct?" The Shadow stops again, seemingly getting frustrated. Yusuke tries one more time. "Each of them is represented by one of the Major Arcana yes? Why are the cells inhere not in the last room, with the others?" Finally giving them a proper reaction, he lets out a heavy sigh before he reluctantly pulls himself up into a sitting position. Once he's up, he looks to the group of Thieves and stabs his knife straight in to the wall beside him. 

The Shadow regards them all for a second. Piercing yellow eyes searching each of them for something before pulling the knife back out. The action draws their attention and they notice that the knife left no mark on the wall. "You're all intelligent. I'm sure that you could find the answer to at least one of those questions if you tried." He stops looking over the group and his eyes land back on Yusuke. "Especially seeing as how you answered one of them already while you were getting me to talk to you." With that he turns away from them, resting his back on the wall, facing the one opposite him. His attention no longer on the Thieves at all. 

Morgana steps up next to Yusuke. "So the cells _do_ represent the people you met in Tokyo?" The Shadow turns to face him, giving a slight nod. "The ones in here are for us, right?" Another nod. "We have an idea, but would you tell us why they're separate from the others?" When Shadow Akira turns his head to face them, he stares at them disapprovingly. 

He heaves a sigh before standing up and walking over to the cell door. Stopping in front of it and looks down at Morgana. Before raising his gaze to look at the other Thieves. "Tell you what. If you can correctly figure out which Arcana I associate you each with, I'll tell you." He rests his arms on the horizontal bar of the cell door, so his arms are hanging out of his cell. When Makoto opens her mouth to protest he raises hands so his palms are facing the group. "None of them should be that difficult. Honestly. I'm sure you've figured out by now that the 7 you're missing are pretty close to the start of the Arcana, barring one." He turns to look at Futaba. "I'll cut the others a bit of slack if they get confused, but a 3 year old could figure yours out with context." 

Futaba looks up at him to the cell next to him. "The Hermit." She looks back to the Shadow for confirmation, to see him nod once. She goes to stand in front of her cell. She stares at it for a few seconds, before looking at the one next to her. Her eyes narrow before she turns to the Shadow. "What's with the chains around my cell? They look different to the others somehow." 

He turns to look at her, as the other Thieves set on trying to work out who belongs to which cell. "That's because they are." He gestures for her to come and stand back in front of his cell, so that he doesn't have to lean through the small back in the bars, she does. "All of your cells have chains wrapped around them. Because no matter what Akira says, he loves and cares for all you so god damn much that it hurts him. He wants you to leave him so that he can't be hurt. But he also wants you to stay so badly. There was chains on the cells before all of this, before he came back to Tokyo. When he was content to die alone in Inaba. He managed to destroy the chains as best he could by not talking to any of you. Not a single word. But then you brought him back to Tokyo and the chains were starting to reforge on their own. He didn't want that to happen. Didn't want to be vulnerable again. So he started ignoring you all again, despite how much he didn't want to. But _you_." She takes a slight step back just in case. "He doesn't know if it's because he's living in Sojiro's cafe and that gives you the most opportunities to see him, but you won't leave him alone. No matter how cold he is to you, no matter how many times he ignores you. You keep coming back." He pulls his arms back in to his cell, crossing them over his chest almost protectively. 

Futaba looks around the room, when the Shadow stops talking, to where the Thieves are still sorting out their cells, although Ann and Morgana have both stopped in front of one. "So that's why my chains are still broken?" He nods. "And he sees this as a bad thing?" Another nod. "But I don't understand. If he doesn't want us to leave him alone, then _why_ is he trying so hard to push us all away?" 

Turning his head away from Futaba for a second he checks on the Thieves progress. Seeing the same thing Futaba had just a few seconds ago, he looks back to her instead. With a slight sigh he answers her question. "Because everyone he's ever cared about has left him at some point. His parents left him after his false charge and arrest. Well as much as was possible with how distant they already were. But they became unabashedly rude and uncaring. The few friends he had in Inaba abandoned him, but not before spreading horrible unforgiving false rumours about him. His teachers all gave up on him as well, despite most of them knowing that none of the rumours were true." He rubs his wrists slightly, before continuing. "Then, he met all of you. And despite everything that had happened to him back home, he allowed himself to hope. That none of you would betray his trust and it wouldn't backfire on him for hoping that you wouldn't leave him. But then you allowed him to go to the interrogation room and risk his own life. Akira doesn't blame any of you for that though. He knew that you didn't have any other option. But he was terrified, because despite how much he trusted all of you, there was still a pretty big chance that Sae wouldn't believe him. Even if she did, there was a chance she wouldn't take the phone and show it to Akechi." A few more rubs to his wrist, as if he's trying to relieve some old pain in them. "That was followed by everything that happened with the Metaverse, and Yaldabaoth. He didn't even have his first and true Persona with him at the end. Then the year was over and he was leaving. With nothing else to do but accept it, he went home. Even though the only thing he wanted was to be able to stay in Tokyo. To stay with the only true friends he'd ever made." He looks away from her, staring instead at the wall again.

Futaba stares sadly at him, as each of the Thieves finally come to a stop in front of a cell. She decides to leave the new information alone for now. Answers for their existing questions are more important right now, rather than asking more. Not until the answers for prior questions at least."Are they right?" 

Akira moves back to the cell door, as Futaba goes to stand in front of her cell. He rakes his eyes over the Thieves. Futaba and Ryuji stood in front of the cells next to him. Morgana next to Futaba with the rest of the group following him in order; Makoto, Haru, Yusuke then Ann. All stood around the room. With a sigh he nods his head in agreement. "Yeah, you got it right." He confirms their answer and ensures them that they had met the terms and conditions to get their answers. "Alright, you did what I asked so you can have your answers." 

They each move quickly away from their cell, coming to wait in front of Akira's. "First question." It's Ann who asks. "Why were all of the people you met assigned to an Arcana?" 

The Shadow shrugs, eyes flicking over to the desk in the middle of the room. "Don't know. Yaldabaoth did it while he was stealing Igor's form. I just continued to do it after we defeated him." He looks away from Ann as she nods her head. "Any other questions?" He takes a small step away from the door to throw his arms out to the side. "Anything else you want to ask your dying leader?" 

Ryuji nods his head and points towards the door on the other side of the room. "What's through that door?" 

Tensing up immediately, the Shadow grabs his wrists so that can rub them both, a haunted look on his eyes. He stands like that for a few seconds in pure silence, before his head snaps back up at Ryuji and he grips his wrists a little tighter. "You don't need to know right now unless you have no more questions, that is." Finally letting go of his wrists, he turns to stare at Ryuji. Something in his eyes dying. 

Ryuji stares back at him for a few seconds, watching as part of Akira's fire vanishes from inside the Shadow, before shaking his head. "It can wait then." He looks over to the others, silently asking if they have any more questions to ask. 

Futaba shakes her head fiercely. "No. I have enough information from you. I can fill the others in later. Tell us about the door." 

Akira's Shadow stares at her, a harsh look returning to his eyes as he turns his head to look at the door. Almost like he wants nothing but to purge it and his memory of it from existence. "Fine." It's far more inhumane than anything else they've heard from the Shadow so far. Bordering on a snarl. Akira throws one of his arms out of his cell, pointing his hand towards the door. " _That_. My dear Thieves. Is Akira's memory of the interrogation room." Pulling his arm back to his chest he adds with a mumble. "What he'll allow himself to remember of it at least." Futaba looks up at him carefully. 

She takes a deep breath to steady her for her next question. "When you say 'what he'll allow himself to remember'. You mean that something traumatic happened in there right? Something that he doesn't want to remember?" The dead look in his eyes doesn't ease up at all, which scares Futaba just a little bit. "We have to go through there to continue through the Palace don't we?" 

_That_ get's a reaction out of the Shadow. His eyes glow a brighter shade of yellow, he stands up taller and throws an arm back out, pointing at the small Thief accusingly. The piece of fire that Ryuji saw die brought back to life in an extreme fashion. "That is exactly why I told you to leave! Akira didn't tell you about the interrogation room the first time! What makes you think that he would want you to find out from all of you scurrying around inside his heart? I tried multiple times to get each of you to leave. So _this_." The pointing arm swings from Futaba to the door. "Is what you get. This is your punishment for going directly against what I told you to do. For being so God damn fucking stubborn." He takes a deep breath to calm himself down, which is a good thing for the Thieves. They've never _once_ seen Akira this angry. So to see it directed at them is more than jarring. A few more deep breaths and the Shadow decides that he's calm enough to start talking again. "You won't find the door you entered this room through. At this point, the only way through is forwards." 

Ryuji looks from Futaba's hurt expression back to the Shadow of his best friend. "Why are you trying to upset us?" 

Shadow Akira angers again, but he pulls himself back under control almost immediately. "If you had been paying any attention to my actions and warnings earlier in your little infiltration, then you would see that I was doing the _opposite_ , quite clearly so in fact. I was trying to stop you from getting hurt but none of you would listen. So as I told you that you would. Now you get to face the repercussions for that." He waves his hand towards the thick metal door, before sitting back on the cell's bed. No longer paying any attention to the Thieves no matter how much they try to make him. Refusing to even look in their direction. Stare glued to the wall in front of him. 

Morgana looks from the Shadow to the door. "We should go. We don't know what he'll do if we make him angrier." He nudges the others a little bit to get them moving, before leading them towards the door. With one last glance towards the rooms only occupied cell, he follows the others through the door. It slams closed behind them immediately, and the blue light and smoke from the Velvet Room is gone. They're stuck in the interrogation room, but no one is moving forwards. "Why are we waiting?" 

Ryuji turns back to the cat creature. "We can't go any further, there's something stopping us. We can only go as far as this wall." He raps his knuckles against it for good measure. 

Morgana looks past the teens to look into the room. His heart dropping into the pit of his stomach when he sees what's waiting in the middle of the room. "You don't think that....?" Futaba just looks away from the scene in front of them, choosing to stare at the wall beside her instead. 

Yusuke answers the question for her. "That we have to watch it play out? Yes, yes we do." Before he can say anything else, the door behind them slams open, and in walk a detective and 2 guards. The detective is looking at Akira with a sick sort of glee shining in his eyes. The kind that each of them know will lead nowhere good. 

Akira's head slowly moves up to look in their direction, but he looks straight through the group, no recognition in his eyes. Instead watching the three men through half open eyes, his head dropping back down like his neck can't support the weight. His eyes open and close slowly on their own as he tries to keep looking up at them. The detective notices that he isn't paying attention to him, and orders one of the guards to 'wake him up'. They do so by throwing an entire bucket of freezing cold water on him.

The teen splutters a few times before trying to move his arms, which rattles the handcuffs where they're tied behind the chair. Watching him struggle for a few seconds before getting annoyed, the detective kicks Akira in the stomach, and it sends him sprawling to floor, breaking the chair on impact. Which causes Akira to cough and splutter. From both the kick and subsequent fall, as well as the ice water still in his lungs. Having fallen onto one of the broken pieces, Akira can feel it start pressing in to his rib, but he can't muster up enough energy to care. Enjoying listening to Akira wheeze and splutter, the detective watches it for a few seconds, before walking over to him and places his foot on Akira's head where it's cheek down on the floor. He doesn't put any pressure on his head for a few seconds, before leaning down to talk to him, making sure that at least some of his weight is resting on Akira's head now. "Come on, cooperate. Or what, you want another shot?" Akira's looks away from the man, and his eyes land on the rooms security camera. The detective notices him looking. "Huh? What about the camera?" Taking his foot off of Akira's head, he instead kneels beside him and grabs a fistful of his hair. "Are you thinking it can be used as video evidence?" When Akira doesn't answer him he quickly lets go of the clump of hair he grabbed, causing his head to slam into the floor. "Didn't you hear my question?" He stands up from his kneeling position to kick the teen in the middle of his torso. Hitting right in between both his chest and his stomach. The teen can feel a few freshly healed over scars reopening. Can feel the slow trickle of blood down his torso. "Answer!" As Akira wheezes on the floor, he walks away, to one of the other men in the room. 

Futaba looks away from the scene, not wanting to see Akira getting beaten up like this. She buries her face into Ryuji's side and sobs, trying and failing to stop her tears. Morgana walks around Ryuji to stand at Futaba's side, trying to comfort her. Ann's reaction is similar to Futaba's. She's turned away from the scene with tears flowing freely down her cheeks as Haru tries her best to comfort her. Makoto and Yusuke are watching the scene playing out in shock, unable to look away for more than a few seconds. But Ryuji forces himself not to look away. Forces himself to watch what's playing out in front of them. Because Akira nearly _died_ for them in that room. The least he can do is watch what happened to him because of _their_ plan. 

A clipboard is held out for the main detective. He takes it and walks towards the door while reading off the list of crimes written in the confession he wants Akira to sign. "Obstruction of justice, blackmail, defamation, possession of weapons...." He turns back to the teen from where he's stood near the door. "Manslaughter too, yeah? Talk about the works." Waving the clipboard back and forth a few times, he turns back to the teen on the floor. "To think that all those crimes were led by a punk like this. And you seemed to be enjoying every second of it.... Huh?" Akira raises his head from the floor, to look at the man. Which is a feat on it's own just to hold his head up. But there's no sign in his eyes that he knows what the man is talking about. His eyes and face are blank from any emotion except confusion. He continues to stare up at the man as he stands at the front of the room. His pounding headache only getting worse when he tries to remember anything. Which all but forces him to stop trying pretty much immediately, whenever he tries to think about what led to him ending up in the interrogation room. 

The blank expression on his face is what finally brings Makoto to tears and forces her to look away. She had assumed that Akira would get roughed up in the interrogation room. But she didn't know how bad it would get. Didn't know he'd be hurt so badly that he'd straight up _lie_ to them all about it. Not to mention that he'd been drugged so many times, and so unsafely, by such strong drugs that he couldn't even remember what he was _doing_ in the interrogation room. Never mind the fact that his life was at risk and he could actually _die_ if he didn't manage to persuade her sister to show Akechi the phone. As she looks to the others, she quickly sees that she isn't the only one to have realised. The rest of the group has as well. Haru has tears welling in the corners of her eyes, with her strict upbringing being the only reason she isn't letting them fall. Morgana is refusing to look back at the scene, ashamed that he hadn't realised just how badly Akira had gotten hurt. Despite being with him almost all of the time. Ann and Futaba are crying harder than ever, with the latter still being tucked into Ryuji's side. Yusuke is looking away from the memory in distaste. His grasp on emotions are difficult to truly understand at the best of times, but for once his emotion is written on his face clearly. He's distraught. Ryuji is still staring at the scene though, Makoto notes. But his fist is clenched so tightly she's surprised he hasn't hurt himself. But he still refuses to look away, forcing himself to keep his eyes trained on the memory in front of them. 

The detective shakes his head a little. "....You should know your place." He nods his head in Akira's direction and the second detective walks forwards to remove the handcuffs. They manhandle him into sitting up, and as soon as he is, Akira starts rubbing his raw wrists. Trying to ease some of the pain in them. After kneeling in front of him, the detective holds the clipboard out to him. "Sign here." Akira looks up from his wrists to stare at him. It's a confession under your name. Akira narrows his eyes and bats the clipboard away harshly. "I see." He stands up to his full height. "I need your hand to sign this, but...." He stomps down on Akira's outstretched leg. Right above his knee. "I don't care if you end up losing a leg." A grunt of pain escapes Akira's mouth as he hands fly to his leg. He presses down on Akira's knee for a few more seconds before getting off and kneeling back beside him. He holds the clipboard out again, Akira takes it this time, before holding out a pen for him. When Akira doesn't take it immediately, he leans in close to him. "Don't expect to walk out of here in one piece. We're going to make you understand.... One must take full responsibility for their actions...." Akira looks down at the pen before taking it. After staring at the clipboard for a few seconds, Akira signs his name and holds the clipboard up for the detective to take back. 

The memory ends with that, ending as soon as it started, and the Thieves are back in the empty interrogation room. Although that was all they are shown of Akira's time in the interrogation room. The injuries and bruises already littering his skin, as well as the syringes on the floor, show them that this was definitely not the only time he was hurt in that room. It was most likely even done by the same detective. It wouldn't surprise any of them, given how comfortable the man was in that room. Ryuji yells in anger, reaches out with his left hand and punches the wall a few times in anger, not caring when his skin breaks along with his glove. Barely even feeling the pain through the red haze of rage. He only stops when he sees the hands on his arm. They don't belong to any of the Thieve's seen as there isn't any gloves, meaning that they can only belong to the Shadow. He looks up, and low and behold, Akira is stood in front of him. The same one they've just seen, with the only difference still, being his glowing yellow eyes. The mark of a Shadow. But he still looks so much like the real Akira, that Ryuji's heart hurts when he looks at all the injuries Akira had sustained and then chosen to keep hidden from them. 

The Shadow turns away from Ryuji, towards Ann. "Heal him?" Ann just nods a little dumbly, slightly surprised he remembered that Carmen has healing spells. She picks up Ryuji's hand and summons Carmen to heal it. Once the skin patches itself back together, they join the other Thieves in staring at him. Shadow Akira takes a few steps backwards so that he can face the whole group. "I'm sure you've all already figured this out, but that wasn't the only time Akira was beaten up in this room. But this was the last time it happened before Sae started her questioning, so it's the only one he can really remember. He can only really remember the pain from the other times, because of how many times they drugged him. Not to mention the dosages they gave him. They didn't give 2 shits about the dosage and accidentally killing him because they were planning to do so anyway. But the drugs did do one good thing, which is that they helped him block out the memories of that room. So all he can really remember is the pain." He looks around the room, rubbing his wrists again where the handcuffs had cut into his skin. "He had nightmares about this room. Still does sometimes. After all everything that happened to him in this room isn't easily left behind or forgotten. I doubt he'll ever be able to fully put it behind him." 

Ryuji chances a look down at Akira's wrists. Both of them had been rubbed raw to the point of bleeding. "What happened to your wrists? I know you were handcuffed, but I'm pretty sure that _that_ isn't something that happens just by being handcuffed." He nods his head down to Akira's wrists. 

Dropping his wrists to his side, the Shadow nods. "You're right, it's not. Not even with how tight they had them clasped really. That detective must have really liked having Akira on the floor so he could stand over him. The only time Akira would really spend on that chair is when he was alone in the room. Even though they kept him far too drugged up to even think of escaping." He looks away from the Thieves. "But, in answer to your question he stood on Akira's wrists once, while the handcuffs were on. One of his wrists was on the floor with the other lying on top of it. He stomped onto Akira's top wrist, much like he did to his leg, and put his quite a bit of his weight into it. Forcing his wrists further into the floor and digging the handcuffs deeper into his skin." 

Yusuke pipes up from beside Makoto. "What else did they do to you in there?" 

Looking back up at them, Shadow Akira shrugs. "Like I said. He doesn't remember a lot of what they did. He just remembers the pain mostly. So he does obviously _know_ what they did to him. After all he had to take care of the injuries. But he doesn't really remember any of it happening. And if Akira doesn't know something _I_ don't know it either." 

Futaba lifts her gaze from the floor to finally look up at the Shadow, just about hiding her wince at the sight of her brother. "Sojiro asked that Doctor from the clinic near Leblanc to look you over right? So how did he not know the extent of your injuries?" 

With a small bit of hesitation, the Shadow changes his appearance just slightly. He now has bags under his eyes and the bruises that were previously clear on his face had faded a little. The only real injuries now visible on his face are a split lip and the bruise over his eye which wouldn't have changed at all for a day or so yet. "This is what he looked like when Sae dropped him off at Leblanc. He hadn't actually slept and Sae had been forcing him to fight through the fog that the drug cast over his brain to tell her everything. He was tired and aching, but while he was awake the bruises he had been given were starting to fade. Not because they were going away, but because they were going to come back with a vengeance. He was quite lucky in a way with the bruises on his face." At the shocked looks from the Thieves he continues. "The bruises covering the rest of his body, his chest especially were painful. They didn't even start to fade until almost a week after his 'death'. Those ones were already deep shades of purple, a few of them almost passing for black, when he got to Leblanc. But they mostly left his face alone, Akira doesn't really like to think about that fact to much though because the possible and probable reasons as to why unnerve him." Futaba continues to stare at him, he hasn't answered her question yet but she's going to make sure he does. "Sojiro did ask Takemi to look him over. But because she wasn't sure what his injuries would look like she asked Sojiro to wait downstairs while she did her checkup. He told her that they would be bad before she had even seen them, and he was right. At the end of he checkup, Takemi told him that he had 3 bruised ribs, he wouldn't be able to properly straighten his leg for at _least_ a few days, and he had a mild concussion from having his head slammed into the floor. He also needed some small stitches on his lip and some on his stomach. Those were just the big ones. When Takemi did her first checkup, it was just a quick one and told him he might have nerve damage in his fingers because of what they did to his wrists. Luckily he managed to avoid the nerve damage but he grew a habit of rubbing his wrists a lot, because while he was healing they hurt a lot and she gave him a cream to rub in to help with healing the scars it gave him." 

Thieves stare at him in horror, pity starting to creep into their stares which he isn't enjoying at all. "Sojiro didn't ask at all? Didn't check up on you?" 

He laughs bitterly at the question. "Of course he did. But Akira had gotten Takemi on his side. She lied to him about the extent of his injuries. So Sojiro believed he wasn't hurt that badly. Besides, the bruises faded because that's all they can do. So it was too easy for Akira to pretend that he really was getting better. To pretend That he wasn't waking up from nightmares almost every other night of Akechi holding a gun to his head. Just to wake up as soon as the trigger is pulled." He looks away from the Thieves again, to stare at the spot in the room where Akira was interrogated by Sae. Where he was almost killed by Akechi. "There's a big difference." He starts explaining. "Between staring down a Shadow that you know wants to kill you, but could be persuaded if Akira was careful enough about it. Or fighting against someone that you know won't or couldn't really hurt you. Than to hearing the footsteps of your would be executioner walk down the hall and have no idea if your plan, a plan that you can barely even remember, worked." He looks back to the Thieves. Purposefully ignoring the now full-on pitying stares from the group. "Akira wasn't scared to die, he would stare down the barrel of a gun again and again if it meant protecting any one of you. With pretty much no questions asked. No that wasn't what scared him, he was scared of not _knowing_ whether he was going to die. Not knowing whether he was going to see any of you ever again." 

They all know Akira is self sacrificing, but to hear it from his own Shadow, in such a matter of fact way, really drives the matter home. It also proves to them what they had already assumed, which is that Akira has no self preservation, or it's so shit that it might as well be non-existent. "Why do you only ever refer to Akira in the third person? You're a part of him aren't you? But the whole time we've been here you've never once said I or me when talking about something that happened to Akira. Or talking about Akira in general." The rest of the Thieves stare at Ryuji in shock, surprised that he picked up on something so small. 

But the Shadow just lets out a sigh. "What do you guys think I am? What part of Akira do I represent?" He allows them a few seconds to come up with an answer. When none of the Thieves can come up with one, he changes his appearance again. This time he's wearing Joker's outfit. "The reason Persona users can't have a Palace is because the Persona takes that place in the wielders heart. But Akira's heart became warped and then he lost his Personas. All of them. Which allowed this place to finally take form." He gestures to his outfit with a wave of his hand and a small shake of his head. " _I_ am Akira's rebellious spirit given form. I am what his Persona would be if we hadn't destroyed the Metaverse. Right now, despite how much he may wish otherwise, Akira's rebellious spirit is dying. That is ultimately why this place exists. He's giving up on hope and rebellion which throughout the rest of Akira's life was something he truly believed in. Why it was so easy for him to choose to help that woman at the start of last year. Why it was so easy to awaken his Persona. But he's starting to stop believing. He's no longer being true to himself. Allowing himself to think even here, that those things might have been mistakes. Because without them, he wouldn't have met any of you and he wouldn't be as vulnerable as he is now. As a result I refuse to acknowledge that we are the same person." The Shadow's face darkens as he talks. 

Ryuji shakes his head sharply. "But you _are_ the same person. The fact that you're here, that this place even still exists, surely proves that he hasn't given up. That he's still fighting!" He turns down to Morgana. "Right? Surely if this guy is telling the truth, than something drastic would have happened to his Palace." 

Morgana thinks in silence for a few seconds before nodding slowly. "I suppose. But I don't know for sure. From what I know though, it what he's saying is true, than if Akira has given up and his rebellious spirit really is dead.... Then yes, I suppose something more drastic would be happening to his Palace." He turns from Ryuji to the Shadow. "I doubt you'd be as lucid as you are either. Since you're claiming to _be_ his rebellious spirit." 

Shrugging his shoulders, the Shadow turns fully away from them, until his back is facing them. "Well. Even if you're right, that's not my problem. You're too far through for me to even _hope_ you'll give up and leave. So anything you see or do from now on.... That's not my problem anymore. From here on out, I'm no longer Akira's Shadow. I'm the ruler of this decrepit broken Palace. If you try and take my treasure, I will stop you." With that said, he turns around to face the Thieves again, before silently walking through the group. Joker's coat tails swishing behind him. When he gets to the door, he stops to regard the Thieves again. "I'll warn you now, that no matter what happens from here on in. No matter what I do, or say. Just know that Akira doesn't want to hurt you. He didn't tell you about his injuries or the fact that he couldn't remember the plan to protect you. Everything Akira has ever done, he's done to protect you. No matter how you take it, or what you wish he'd done instead. He did it all with your best interests at heart. Including ignoring you for the past few months." He pushes the door open and turns his head ever so slightly to look back at the group. "Just know that he'd rather die than willingly hurt you." Futaba catches his gaze as it drops on to her. "Any of you." With that he leaves the room, the door slamming closed behind him, leaving the Thieves in silence. 

The only sound in the room is Futaba's foot tapping against the floor as she tries to think why Akira would direct that last little bit to her specifically. She stomps her foot loudly when she figures it out. "He tricked me!" She looks up at Ryuji, hurt shining in her eyes. "Remember what I told you about last week?" Ryuji nods slowly, unsure as to where she's going with her train of thought. But pretty sure that he isn't going to like it. "He must've tricked me. That's the only reason I think of that his Shadow would deem it fit to tell me specifically that Akira doesn't want to hurt us. He tricked me so that I wouldn't see what he did." She turns to Morgana after that. "Sojiro didn't buy it though did he? Didn't you say he went back to Leblanc to talk to Akira?" 

Morgana nods quickly. "He did yeah. Like I told you last time he asked me to get you to go to sleep, or at the very least, keep you off of your computer, before heading back to Leblanc. He was probably only there for about 20 minutes. Also I couldn't see what it was, but I think that he was carrying something when he came back. But again, without one of you to act as translator he can't understand me, so I couldn't ask him." 

Futaba glances at the door that Shadow Akira just walked through. A frown forming on her face. They've literally just been told, from arguably the truest part of Akira that he has never and would never hurt them on purpose. But to know that he tricked her, in order to hide his self inflicted wounds from her. It really hurts a lot. The fact that he went to such lengths to prevent her from finding out. Despite the fact that she already knew because she checked the cameras. Especially because he already _knew_ that she was aware of what had happened, because of what happened when her and Ryuji went to Inaba to bring him back. He knew to try and trick her. Ryuji places a hand on her shoulder, continuing to be uncharacteristically quiet. She looks up at him with unshed tears in her eyes, she didn't even think she _could_ physically cry anymore after her sobbing just before. She takes a second to blink the tears away and Ryuji gives it to her. "Look at it this way, the fact that he put in the effort to hide it from you shows you how much he cares about you. After all he wouldn't want his precious little sister to see something like that would he?" 

Futaba opens her mouth to protest, but drops her head instead with a sigh. Her mouth closing slowly as her head drops to hang between her shoulders. "You're right, Ryuji." As the rest of the Thieves try to figure out what the 3 of them are talking about, Futaba raises her head while taking a deep breath to calm herself down. "Besides, Akira is secretive by nature.He didn't hide it from me to be mean or vindictive, it's just how he is." Ryuji nods his head proudly at her as she stands up straight, finally raising her head properly. 

Ann smiles sadly at the youngest even as she straightens herself out and pulls her into a tight hug. "Akira loves you Futaba. You know that better than anyone." She brings the hacker into a tight hug. "Like you said he wasn't doing it to be cruel. He just doesn't know how to handle it when people clearly care about him." She pulls out of the hug, leaving her hands on her shoulders. "But he'll be fine soon, got it." Futaba nods her head quickly as Ann steps back completely and rests her hands on her hips. "You got it Futaba. Now let's go find Akira's treasure." 

The rest of the Thieves take a few seconds to straighten themselves out after having seeing Futaba looking so distraught. Once everyone is ready to start moving again, they head for the door at the end of the room. "What is this room even going to be? The real interrogation room didn't have a second door. So what are we going to be walking in to?" 

That stops them again, as they turn to look back at Makoto. "That's true. Haven't we passed all of the places in Tokyo that Akira frequents on his own?" 

They look between each other and back to the door a few times before Haru takes a step forwards. "The only way to find out is to keep going right?" She takes a few steps closer to the door, waiting to see if they'll follow her. They do. 

She pulls the door open and each of the Thieves stop one by one. Because there it is. Floating in the middle of the room is the familiar hazy blob of light that stands in the place of an unformed treasure. The treasure room is black and white, blending with the rest of the Palace bar those two Velvet Rooms. Morgana runs up to treasure. "This is it. We made it, all that's left to do is write the calling card and take it." 

Ryuji walks up beside him, still looking around the room. "Then lets get out of here so we can write the Calling Card." 

Morgana turns to him with a nod of the head. "Yeah, let's head out." Within 10 minutes, they had exited the Metaverse and are stood outside of the Sakura household. They stand there in an exhausted silence for a few minutes before Morgana breaks it. "Before you all go home, I want to get this out of the way." They all look up at him on his place on the wall. "We don't know what we'll have to fight once Akira gets the calling card. It could be something else, like how Futaba's was a warped version of her mother, but it could just as well be Akira himself. I'm sure I don't need to really warn any of you about this, but even if we just fight a normal Akira, it'll be difficult. Never mind what happens if it's something like what happened in Shido's Palace." All of the Thieves shudder at the mention of Shido. "All I'm saying is make sure you're careful. Okay?"

They all agree with him in solemn nods. Ryuji and Ann quicker than the others. They've been fighting alongside Akira the longest, knew him when he was still trying to figure out how to house multiple Persona's inside his heart. Watched as he powered on despite that like nothing was wrong and took down enemy after enemy. Yeah, none of them need to be warned about staying on guard. 

A minute or so later and everyone is about to head home for the day. "I'll have the Calling Card sorted out soon as possible. Just let me know when we're going in." He turns back around to the group slowly. "Hang on, how are we going to _give_ Akira the Calling Card? We can't ask Futaba to do it that could be dangerous." The others turn to him, the same realisation dawning on them as well. 

Yusuke is the one to speak up though. "If it is too dangerous for Futaba to give it to him, than Morgana is off that table as well. Maybe we could ask Sojiro to leave it on the counter of Leblanc were he's sure Akira will see it. Obviously putting it somewhere that it won't affect business if a customer comes in." Futaba nods her head in agreement. "Good idea, Inari." She turns her head to Ryuji to address him. "When you're done with the Calling Card, give it to me and I'll ask Sojiro to leave it in the cafe. That way neither me nor Mona have to go anywhere near Leblanc." With their plan decided on, the Thieves head home. Closer than ever to helping Akira, as well as repaying him for all he's done for them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next update probably won't be for a little over a week sorry about that, just because I have an interview I'm stressing about so I won't be able to focus on writing and anything I do write will almost definitely be garbage.
> 
> But I will try to update as quick as I can because we're nearing the end and I'm SUPER excited to write the ending honestly
> 
> Also real quick, can I just say I'm really annoyed that Lala doesn't get a Confidant. Literally any other adult in the game? Sure. Lala? No.
> 
> I mean they even created 2 new Tarot cards *specifically* for the new characters in Royal (which really bugged me at the start I'm not gonna lie) and Lala still doesn't get a Confidant? Preposterous. Like I know it's Atlus so you can't gay and they don't really touch the subject, but I think it could've been such a cool idea for a Confidant.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Calling Card is sent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry it took so long to give you all a new chapter. But I got really busy with work and I couldn't think of how I  
> wanted this chapter to go. 
> 
> I did plan on having this chapter come out a few days ago but my phone broke for the second time in 2 months and I kind  
> of lost the will to live never mind the will to write. 
> 
> But it's all okay now! Cause my phone is fixed, and you guys get a new chapter. As always I really hope you enjoy it, please let me know if you do. Have fun!

Ryuji sets to work on creating Akira's Calling Card pretty much as soon as soon as he gets home that night. It took him more than a little while to figure out how to write and design it. None of the other Calling Cards he wrote came easily either. But that was because he's not the brightest. But this time it's difficult because he didn't want to make it seem like they were replacing him and that he isn't or wasn't needed for the Phantom Thieves. _Couldn't_ make it look like that, because honestly that could accidentally make Akira so much worse than he already is. Especially if it causes him to think that they're replacing him. He already believes that he isn't worth their care and attention, if he starts believing that he's been replaced it might end up being the final nail in Akira's coffin.

With these thoughts rolling around his head, he ends up staring at his desk for most of the night. Unable to decide or even imagine what to put on Akira's Calling Card. Nothing he can think of seems to be good enough. Anything he thinks of, makes Ryuji worried that it could cause Akira to drown or spiral deeper into the state of depression Ryuji is 99% sure that Akira is currently in. Right now a spiral would be the worst thing possible, sure the Calling Card would force Akira's treasure to materialize, but once they steal the treasure and the Palace is destroyed Akira would likely still be stuck in his current state. With his Palace gone they may be able to help him get better still, but he'd much rather not take the chance. No part of him at all wanting to risk Akira's health or well being by him rushing and not being careful enough. He doesn't think any of the other Thieves could blame him for that though, especially not after everything they've seen inside of his Palace. Especially not Futaba, what with her having been through the same situation. The situation of having a Palace that is, their personal situations are very different. What with Futaba having no support bar Sojiro but not knowing how to ask for help. And Akira having the support of Sojiro, his Thieves (because _yes_ they're still _his_ thieves, Ryuji doubts that that will ever change). Not to mention all of the other friends he's made around Tokyo as well but not wanting to ask for help, not thinking he's allowed to. Probably not knowing how to either now that he's thinking about it. 

With a heavy sigh, Ryuji all but slams his head onto his desk. A second after the thud of his head hitting the desk, Michiko peeks in through his door. "Ryu? Everything okay in here?" She takes a small step into the room when Ryuji doesn't look up at her. "Ryuji?" She steps into his room, closing the door behind her and resting against it. Waiting patiently for her son to answer her. Guessing from the head slamming that it might take a few seconds to gather himself enough to answer coherently. 

A few seconds later, and he turns his head so that his cheek is now resting against the wood, instead of his forehead. He opens his eyes, to stare pitifully up at his mum. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine mum." She raises an eyebrow at him causing him to roll his eyes and let out a groan. "I _am_ fine. But I'm trying to make Akira's Calling Card. But everything I think to put on it seems like it would just send him spiralling which is the _last_ thing I want him to be doing right now. Because it means that even if we take his Treasure, he won't be any better the next time we see him. Not that it'll be an instant cure either way but that isn't my point. "With another groan, he presses his forehead back onto the desk. 

Michiko steps away from his door, coming to a stop beside Ryuji's hunched over form. She cards her hand through his hair, it's still soft despite how many times Ryuji has bleached it. She stands in silence for a second as her son revels in the positive physical contact. She's figured for a while that her Ryu may be a little touch starved despite how many hugs she gives him when they're both home. But with Akira being the topic of conversation, she can't help but wonder if here son's friend is even more touch starved, what with his neglectful parents. Running her fingers through her sons hair one last time she goes to speak. "Ryuji. I know how much you care about that boy. If, God forbid, you do hurt him with the Calling Card you wouldn't have done it on purpose. But you need to get this done, right? So why don't I help you?" 

He opens his eyes to look up at her, unsure as to when he even closed them in the first place. "Really?" 

Michiko nods her head immediately, not hesitating for a single second. "Of course. Ryu, this boy single-handedly made your life better in the span of a single year. Don't get me wrong, I know you cared about the members of the track team when you were still on it, before everything went to shit. But from what you've told me, the friends you have now are so much better to you then the track team ever were. I know you complain about Morgana a lot. And that they all tease you maybe just a little bit too much. But I know that you truly care about them. And yes, I do mean Morgana too, because no matter how much you complain about him I know that you truly do care about him. I want to help, even in the smallest of ways to help repay the boy who helped my baby boy get his life back on track. So if this is the way that I can help, then yes really." She takes a deep breath after her slight rant to get back the used oxygen. She goes back to playing with Ryuji's hair for a second. "Sorry baby. I know I went off on a bit of a tangent there. But I really want to help you and your friends help Akira." 

Carefully, so as not to dislodge the hand in his hair, he lifts his head from the desk and sits up properly in his seat. "Thanks mum. I'll bring him round here at some point when he's a bit better." They share a bright smile for a brief second before she moves away to sit on Ryuji's bed. Swivelling on his chair, Ryuji throws his legs around the sides of the chair to face his mum, resting his chest on the back of the chair. "Okay, so did you see the Calling Card that we posted everywhere for Kaneshiro?" She nods softly. "Okay, well I need to make one of them. Just the one though, because we're going to get Sojiro to leave it somewhere in the café rather than giving it to Akira himself." 

She hums slightly and the two fall into silence. "Well, the goal of them is to tell them what you're going to do right?" Ryuji nods hesitantly. Still not sure even after all this time why only the Calling Cards can force a Palace rulers treasure to form. "Well, why don't you make this one a little more personal? The ones I saw last year, were quite impersonal. Just stating what you were going to do. But Akira already knows who you are, knows that you're the Phantom Thieves and knows about the Metaverse. So why don't you use that? That way you might be able to prevent him from spiralling, as you said." 

After thinking for a few seconds, Ryuji nods his head slowly. "Knowing about us is putting it a little loosely, considering he was our leader last year." He laughs a little bit before shaking his head and focusing back on the topic at hand. "But that sounds like it'll work." He turns his head to look back at his desk and all the crumpled pieces of paper. "Okay. I'm gonna try again. Thanks for the help mum!" He turns back to her with a bright smile. As Ryuji starts writing on a new sheet of paper Michiko stands up from the bed to leave him to it. Knowing how easily her son can get distracted. On the way out she ruffles his hair a little, smiling at the way he leans into her touch again. 

It takes two hours, but eventually Ryuji is happy with what's going to be on Akira's calling card. He takes a picture to send it to the group chat to make sure everyone is happy with what it says. Normally he'd just start making the card once he's set on what it'll say. But it's for Akira and so each of them should have at least some input on it. 

A few minutes later the current Thieves chat is full of replies. Missing one from Morgana of course, but Futaba sends his opinion in it's own text for him. Each of the Thieves send their own appreciation of what Ryuji has chosen for the card. Each believing that it will keep Akira's state stable until his treasure is stolen. 

Ryuji decides to wait for the next school week to start to hand the card over to Futaba. It seems less risky to him than chancing Akira seeing him in Yongen for only a few minutes, if not seconds, before turning around and leaving. Ryuji waits impatiently to hand over the Calling Card to Futaba. Because once it's in her hands, they can start figuring out when everyone is available and then decide when to steal Akira's treasure. But as excited as he is to steal it, he's worried and apprehensive as well. Yes, stealing the Treasure will destroy Akira's Palace. But he's starting to get worried that it might not help him. It obviously won't fix everything immediately, nothing could and he's under no belief that anything will. The destruction of his Palace will just jumpstart his healing, help get them on started on the right path. But a voice in the back of his head, has been telling him that something is going to go wrong. He's been trying not to listen to it, because the voice sounds suspiciously like Akira. Or to be more specific, it sounds like Akira's Shadow. So he's just straight up refusing to listen to it. They stole all of their targets Treasure's last year when they were _truly_ acting as the Phantom Thieves without any problems. Ryuji should know seen as he was there for them all. The only one that went wrong, so so _horribly_ wrong, was Okumura. But even then that was only because of that bastard Akechi's interference, they did everything right. So he knows that realistically speaking, nothing is going to go wrong. Because none of them want to kill Akira and none of them would even _think_ of doing so. Nor would Ryuji let them if they for some reason _did_ want to. Meaning that nothing will go wrong and everything will work out perfectly. They'll steal the Treasure, the Palace will collapse and Akira can start getting better. But that voice in the back of his head, that goddamn smooth, persuasive voice, the one that he could happily listen to forever, won't leave it be. Consistently whispering in his ear, telling him that something will go wrong. That they what they're trying to do won't end up helping Akira at all. 

Sunday night, Ryuji gives up. He drops his head onto his pillow when he realises that the voice isn't going to shut up, and shouts out a scream before reaching blindly for his phone. Trying to find wherever it landed on his bed from when he dropped onto it. His fingers finally land on it after a few pats of his mattress. Turning to lay on his back, he unlocks his phone and pulls up Futaba's contact. It rings a few times before Futaba answers on the other end. "Ryuji? Why are you calling so late? What's wrong?" He stays silent for a few seconds hoping he doesn't upset her with his question. "Ryuji?" His silence appears to be unnerving her, though. So he gets the question out of the way, asking it as quickly as possible, like ripping off a plaster. 

"Futaba, you were hearing voices when we were going through your Palace right?" He hears her intake of breath and the shuffling of fabric as she shoots up in her bed. More on edge now than she had been from his silence. "It's not as bad as what you were going through, but I keep hearing his voice. I've been hearing it for a good few days now." Ryuji can't hear her breathing anymore and worries that she's stopped, maybe delving into a panic attack. One that he would have induced. But she hums a little in response, telling him to continue. Not trusting her voice to hold steady right now. "I think it's just because of how many times he's told us to leave. But I can just hear his voice telling me all of the ways that this could go wrong, no matter how weak they are. I know that yours was much worse than whatever is happening to me right now. But I was wondering if you have a way of distracting yourself from it? So that I don't have to hear it." He knows his voice must be bordering on pleading, but he can't find it in himself to care, because he just wants this voice to _go away._

Futaba stays silent on the other end of the call. Ryuji doesn't force her to say anything, just allows her to find her words in her own time. After all, he knows this is probably bringing up some bad memories for her. He starts to feel bad about bringing her in to his problem, when she finally speaks, almost 3 minutes later. Her voice is quiet, but Ryuji was expecting that. "I don't know what will work for you, but headphones helped for me. It's why I wear them almost constantly, because it was the only thing that could block out the voices even just a little bit. But if you don't think they've gotten to the level that it was at for me.... Then it might just be that with your nerves through the roof and you've latched onto something to try and ease it but your anxiety over something going wrong has taken something that you were, even subconsciously, using as a comfort and turned it into a way to hurt you. If that's the case, then I'm not sure that my advice will help. The best advice I can give you in that case, is to get some sleep. And to hope that your anxiety lessens a bit when you wake up. Maybe do something that helps you relax as well." Her voice trails off a little at the end, becoming sheepish at not being able to offer more help than what little she's given. But Ryuji is thankful for her help none the less. 

Ryuji spends a few seconds smiling a little at the care Futaba is showing him. Something she doesn't usually do. After all, she prefers to show her friends affection with teasing and snark. So the soft words and kind treatment help to calm his worries a little on their own. "Thank you, Futaba. I'll try and get some sleep, see you tomorrow." With a quick goodnight, Futaba hangs up to go back to the anime she was watching. A coping mechanism of her own. Almost as soon as the phone call ends, it occurs to Ryuji that Futaba might be feeling similar to him. The other Thieves as well, all be it to varying degrees due to their personalities. Morgana especially, as Akira's almost constant companion he probably isn't feeling too great right now. 

Monday morning arrives, and Ryuji does actually feel a little bit better. He'll need to thank Futaba for her help when he hands over the Calling Card today. Dragging himself out of bed, he pulls himself into his uniform, opting for his bright yellow 'ZOMG' t-shirt instead of the school shirt as always. Making sure the card is safe and in no danger of getting bent in his bag, he pulls it on and heads out of his room to pull on his shoes and head out. 

When he switches trains, he sees Akira stood waiting for the train. With Futaba stood to his side, neither of them are talking but to see him not pulling away from her, feeds the flame of hope living in his chest. It burns brighter than it has in weeks, but he can't help wanting to go over and talk to him. Knowing that he wouldn't get any response and that he may even just walk away from him, helps keep him where he is. Unable to tear his eyes away from the teen, he ends up staring at Akira as he waits for the train to arrive. Akira must feel Ryuji staring at him, because he turns around suddenly, looking for whoever is watching him. After only a second or two of looking around, he meets Ryuji's eyes. Surprisingly, he doesn't tear his eyes away immediately. He keeps eye contact with Ryuji for a few seconds, before he hunches in on himself and turns away. Seeing Akira's change in stance, Futaba looks up at Akira before looking behind her. When she spots Ryuji, her eyes widen slightly and she looks back up at Akira. Her gaze softens when it lands back on Akira, she raises her hand to place it on Akira's arm. But before she can say anything, the train pulls up. Akira steps onto the train without so much as a glance back in Ryuji's direction. Futaba follows him on quickly, but does turn around to shoot him an apologetic smile. Ryuji just waves it off before boarding the train himself. Keeping the two in the corner of his vision. 

Akira escapes from Futaba's side only once they enter the school. After watching him walk away with a sigh, the younger teen turns to Ryuji with a sad smile on her face. "Are you feeling any better than yesterday, Ryuji?" He nods his head instantly. Her smiles brightens a little as they move out of the way of the entrance. "That's good. Please don't pay any attention to what happened on the train. He can barely handle me being around him half the time, despite the fact that he's stopped trying to push me away because I live with Sojiro. But he's done a much better job of avoiding you and the others." She lowers her head a little and well, Ryuji's having none of that. Akira's problems are _not_ her fault. 

Placing a hand on her head, he shows her his brightest smile. "It's okay, Futaba. It's not your fault that Akira isn't in a good place okay? To be honest I'm just glad that _someone_ managed to wear him down enough for him to stop pushing them away." He takes his hand back when she looks up at him. "On another matter, want me to hand the card over now or later?" 

Futaba fishes her phone out of her pocket to check the time. "Later. I need to get to class. Meet me on the roof later?" He nods his head as she heads up the stairs to where the second year classes are held. 

As Ryuji heads, albeit reluctantly, to his own classroom he passes Akira and Ann's. He peeks through the window in the door to see Ann sat in front of Akira's desk. Akira himself, is sat at his desk staring out of the window beside him, a blank look on his face. The last thing Ryuji sees as he passes by their classroom towards his own, is Akira pulling his phone out of his pocket. With one last glance at the teen, Ryuji turns away and heads for his own classroom. 

Paying as little attention to the lesson as he always does, Ryuji stares at the clock on the wall until the lesson ends and he can head for the roof. Almost as soon as the bell rings for lunch, he's up and out of the classroom. The teacher just rolls their eyes at him as he runs out of the room. 

He doesn't have to wait for long for Futaba to meet him on the roof. Roughly 5 minutes into lunch, Futaba opens the door to the roof with Morgana poking out of her bag as he did with Akira's. "Hey Futaba." He delves into his bag to pull out the card. "Here ya go." 

She reaches out to take it from him, reading over it. Despite the fact that she already knows what it says. Morgana jumps onto her shoulder to read it as well. She lifts her head to look back at Ryuji. "It's perfect." 

Morgana nods his head in approval from his perch on Futaba's shoulder. "She's right. This is probably your best Calling Card yet." 

Ryuji frowns at the cat's tone and crosses his arms over his chest. "Yeah, well it was for Akira so I wasn't gonna do a shit job now was I?" 

Morgana lowers his head slightly. "Right. You're right, sorry." 

Ryuji drops his arms and shakes his head slowly. "No, I'm sorry, Morgana. I shouldn't have been so defensive. I know your just as upset about this as everyone is." He frowns at his own hot headedness. He isn't stupid he knows that Morgana starts just as many of their fights as he does. But he doesn't usually get so defensive over Morgana's taunts and gives as good as he gets. 

Morgana gives Ryuji what the blonde assumes is meant to be a smile. Ryuji quietly figures how difficult it must be to actually smile at people as a Cat. "It's fine, Ryuji. That was a low blow on my part. I know how much you care for Akira. Of course you'd put all your effort in to helping him." 

Futaba looks between Ryuji and the Cat on her shoulder before giving a slight sigh. "Now that you two boys are sorted." She drops her gaze on to Ryuji. "Want to meet with the others later to sort out our infiltration date?" 

He nods his head in agreement almost immediately. "Sure, where do you want to meet them?" 

Futaba hums in thought. "We could just meet in my room? That way the 4 of us could head straight there, while those 3 head there when they get out of school slash work." 

Ryuji nods his head in agreement, along with Morgana. "Good idea. Now you 2 should get back to class." Rolling his eyes at the bossy Cat, Ryuji leaves the roof with Futaba to go back to class. 

The day goes by slowly after that. Not that Ryuji is surprised, whenever something good is going to happen the day before it always stops to a crawl. So by the time the school day is over, Ryuji feels like it's been hours since he spoke with Futaba. Which it _has_ been, considering he spoke to her a little under 3 hours ago. But he means more that it feels like it's been almost a whole other day since he gave Futaba the Calling Card. 

He all but runs to Futaba's classroom. He realises it's probably a bad idea to meet Ann outside hers while he's so jittery considering she shares a class with Akira. Futaba looks up at him when he gets to the door of her classroom, bouncing on the balls of his feet. With a breathy laugh and a role of her eyes, she stands from her desk and heads out of   
the school with Ryuji. Ann had told them that Shiho wanted to talk to her anyway, so she's going to meet them at Futaba's. Part of Ryuji is annoyed that she's placing somebody else above what Akira needs. But he kills and buries that part of his mind as soon as it rears his head. He doesn't blame her for wanting to spend some time with Shiho, what with everything going on with Akira. If the roles were reversed and they were trying to help Shiho, Ryuji would probably want to spend time with Akira as well. Which is another reason why he's so quick to kill off that thought process. He knows that Akira means more to him than the other Thieves (except Futaba probably) because of everything the teen has done for him. Not to mention the fact that Ryuji _may_ be in love with Akira (read; definitely). So it isn't fair to expect the same desperation to help Akira that he and Futaba share. He knows that the others also want Akira to get better from the bottom of their hearts, and that's enough for Ryuji so that dark part of his brain can stay in it's newly dug grave. 

He, Futaba and Morgana (still residing in Futaba's bag) make their way out of Shujin as quickly as possible. They know that they still have to wait for the others to arrive at Futaba's house as well. But they feel like they need to get there as quickly as possible. 

When they arrive at the Sakura residence, they're surprised to see Makoto and Yusuke waiting for them. "When did you guys get here?" 

Makoto smiles softly at them. "A few minutes ago. We got here at the same time. Haru's meeting should have ended by now, so she should be her before long." Ryuji nods his head in understanding as Futaba turns to unlock the door. As they go inside, Ryuji unlocks his phone to shoot Ann and Haru a quick text. Telling them that they're at Futaba's now and someone will come to unlock the door if they ring the doorbell. 

The 5 of them sit in silence when they get to Futaba's room. Ryuji takes a seat on the bed with Makoto, Futaba takes her computer chair, Morgana the window ledge and Yusuke leans against the door of Futaba's closet. No one moves until they hear the doorbell ring 15 minutes later. Without saying anything, Ryuji stands up to go let whichever one has arrived in. Both Haru and Ann are standing in font of the door when he opens it. Pulling it open wider, and stepping away from the doorway, he lets the two in. Making sure to lock the door behind them. They start down the hall towards Futaba's room as he locks the front door, Ryuji follows after them only a second later. Ann takes the spot on the bed Ryuji vacated, with Haru sitting down next to Makoto, so Ryuji stands next to Yusuke. 

They continue sitting in silence, despite the last of the group having arrived. It takes almost 5 minutes for one of them to break the silence. And it's Yusuke who does so, from his position against the wall. "I understand that this is difficult for everyone. But we should start deciding on an infiltration date. So that Futaba knows when to hand the   
card over to Sojiro." He turns to look at the teen in question. "After all. It would be better to help Akira sooner rather than later, no?" 

That seems to snap the teens out of their collective silence, as they each start nodding their head in agreement. "I agree." Futaba taps her fingers on her desk a few times as she thinks. "If I'm being honest, I'd like to send the Calling Card tomorrow. I know that doesn't leave us with much time to prepare but we don't have the same wealth of weapons or things to heal us that Akira found." She looks over to the group. "And to be quite honest, we don't have the time to find any. I seriously don't know how much longer Akira's Palace is going to hold up." 

Ryuji drops his head slightly, as the other Thieves stare at Futaba in worry and confusion. "What do you mean? I thought it was stable enough to last for a little while longer?" 

Futaba casts one more glance over to Ryuji before looking over at Haru. "It was. But I don't know if it is anymore. It's an awful coincidence so don't blame him." The others look down at Ryuji, having noticed his reaction to Futaba's statement. Once they all nod their heads, promising they won't react badly or blame Ryuji, Futaba continues. "Well, I started getting the train with Akira. Because I was worried about the state of decay in his Palace and I was the only one he would let get that close to him. But while we were waiting for the train today, Ryuji showed up. It was a coincidence and the timing was awful. Akira must've slept poorly or had a nightmare, something like that because he already wasn't looking so good when I met him outside Leblanc this morning. Ryuji didn't even come up to us. He kept his distance and stood a little way behind us as we were waiting for the train. Akira must've realised he was there though, because he started looking around and saw Ryuji after only a few seconds. After a few seconds he hunches he turns back around and hunches in on himself, so I look around as well to see what caught his attention. Which is when I noticed Ryuji." 

The teens look down at Ryuji sadly, their gaze passing to Ann a few times. The topic of Akira is hard on all of them at the minute. But Ann has classes with the boy 6 days a week and he ignores her throughout all of them. "I agree with Futaba then. After all, her and Morgana are the most knowledgeable about all of this and if she's saying his Palace is in danger, I'd much rather steal his Treasure sooner rather than later. So is everyone available the day after tomorrow?" Makoto looks around the room as everyone nods their heads vigorously. Everyone's determination to save Akira is stronger than ever what with their goal being so close in sight. 

Futaba picks the Calling Card up from where it lays on her desk. "So I'm giving this to Sojiro tomorrow, right?" Futaba lets out a sigh of relief when everyone agrees. "Okay, good. I don't know whether Akira is work or not, but I'm going to go to Leblanc to explain what's going to happen and what we want him to do. Unless Akira is in then I'll have to do it when he comes home tonight." The Thieves nod and all get up to leave. 

"We'll head off then." Makoto looks to each of the Thieves. "I know we're not going tomorrow, but this has been taxing on all of us. So each of you make sure you're rested alright?" 

Morgana nods from his place on the window ledge. "I agree with Makoto. Akira's always made sure we have healing items which we won't have the luxury of this time. So you need to make sure you're rested." He follows Futaba through the house and sits at the door while they all pull on their shoes. 

Futaba and Morgana walk with them all until they get to Leblanc, where they split off from the group to go inside. Futaba points to the roof when she walks inside, silently asking if Akira is upstairs. Sojiro shakes his head. "He must've gotten called into work because he hasn't come home yet." 

Futaba nods her head and sits on one of the chairs at the counter. "I'll explain quickly then, in case he comes home." Placing the Calling Card on the counter, she pushes it towards Sojiro. "We need Akira to see this tomorrow. Preferably when he gets back from school. It will force his Treasure to form which means we can steal it. Don't give it to him directly, just leave it somewhere that he's sure to see it." Sojiro nods his head in understanding and picks up the card. "I'm going to head back home so that I don't run into Akira. Keep it out of sight for tonight?" Sojiro nods his head. "Will do. You head on home for now, I'll see you tonight." Futaba nods her head and leaves the café. Sojiro instantly starts thinking of a place to hide the card. Leaving it somewhere in the café is the safest idea or else Futaba would've given it him tonight or tomorrow morning. So Sojiro doesn't want to take it back home and risk not brining it back in the morning. He thinks for a few seconds about keeping it under the counter, but Akira uses the counter to make himself in the middle of the night. The only place in the café he doesn't go (anymore) is the kitchen. He hasn't looked at the fridge in the weeks he's been back. Sojiro has seen him eat _one_ whole meal in all that time. But, even then he has a feeling that the teen only did it because the elder was still in the café. Half the time Akira looks like the smell of food will make him be sick. Once Akira's friends finish their Phantom Thief business, Sojiro is going to make sure Akira eats a whole meal. At least one a day until he starts gaining back some of the weight he's lost. 

As sad as the surroundings of his choice are, he realises that the best place to hide the card is on the side of the fridge. Akira never goes near it anyway, but he'd be able to see it from the front, and Sojiro doesn't really feel like putting it _inside_ the fridge because that just feels stupid. So instead, he pulls off one of the magnets, and sticks the card to the side of the fridge. The one not facing the café obviously. All though, that might be a good place to put it tomorrow when he was told to let Akira see it. 

Akira comes back just as the café closes. Sojiro is used to that, but what he isn't used to, even with how the teen is right now, is the look on Akira's face. He looks a disturbing mix of heartbroken and empty. Almost like he wants to be upset, but is forcing himself to act like he's not feeling anything. The most jarring thing about it though, is the fact   
that Akira isn't masking it. Normally any emotion he doesn't want to show on his face _won't_ you wouldn't be able to see even a speck of it. But tonight? Both of his conflicting emotions are written for all to see, the war battling out inside his head being broadcast to anyone who looks at him. The sight alone is enough to make Sojiro want to rip the card out of it's hiding place and show it to the teen. Show him that he has people who care about him, and want nothing more than to help him. 

But he refrains from doing so. After all, the teens aren't ready to steal Akira's heart and he was warned of what would happen if the boy sees it before they're ready. But also, because he isn't sure what it would do to him while Akira is in such a clear state of confusion, dismay and despair. He assumes that's also why one of the teens isn't giving it to him themselves. So without any hassle, Sojiro just steps out of Akira's way, letting him back into the café. The teen hunches in on himself a little as he walks past the man. He doesn't stay downstairs for more than a few seconds. Just walks straight over to the stairs, says goodnight to Sojiro and walks up into the attic. 

With a slight shake of his head and a sigh, Sojiro leaves his café. If he hadn't confiscated 2 of the teens 3 knives he'd be a little worried about leaving him alone in such a state. But he trusts that Akira will uphold his promise regarding the third knife and not use it in such a way. Because Sojiro wouldn't enjoy taking it away from him, but he will do if it's what it takes to keep the boy safe from himself. 

Akira doesn't go to sleep that night, just lays on his bed staring at the ceiling. Watching as his attic room slowly gets brighter and brighter, hour by hour, as the night goes on. He doesn't even feel that tired when it comes time to pull himself out of bed, but he knows he'll probably start too in a few hours. Hopefully he can get through the day before passing out. Luckily, Lala gave him the day off. So he can come home and pass out as soon as school finishes. With that decided, he gets dressed and heads downstairs. Sojiro is still setting up when he gets downstairs. With a slight smile directed towards the owner, he accepts the cup of coffee that's being pushed in front of him. He knows he won't be able to drink all of it, which is a shame because he knows it tastes amazing, but his stomach just wouldn't be able to handle it with having nothing else in it. He downs half of the coffee in just 2 sips. 

Futaba enters the café as he starts pushing the cup into the middle of the counter, unable to stomach any more. He catches the sad look she shoots his way, but he doesn't comment on it. Choosing instead to just stand up and head for the door where she's stood waiting for him. He wouldn't try to ditch her. Not only would it make him feel even more like shit. But because he doesn't want to run the risk of a repeat of the Akihabara episode. He knows that Futaba never truly got over her social anxiety and still suffers from it quite badly. Especially if Akira isn't there. She can go to school now, sure. But that doesn't mean that she's magically fixed, because nothing in this world works like that. Not anymore. Even with the Metaverse it didn't work like that. Sure for the targets that hadn't developed their Palaces it was all but instant. But for the Palace rulers, the people they were busy at work finding all last year, it took a little more time. The _effect_ was instant sure. They knew what they were doing was wrong and accepted that. But it took their brains a few days to fully come to terms with everything that they had done and fix themselves accordingly. 

But when Akira nearly falls into the side of someone's house, he realises that he is _far_ too tired to contemplating the ins and outs of the Metaverse. So he turns his brain off instead, and continues following Futaba to the train station silently. 

The day goes by slowly once he actually gets to Shujin. He gets to his classroom and sits down, waiting for Ann to enter. Noting as always the sad look on her face when she sees him at his desk. The look he put there and is all but sure is mirrored on the other Thieves' faces. But it shouldn't be. They each deserve to be happy and Akira doesn't understand why they aren't. Sure they brought him back to Tokyo and he's repaid that by ignoring them. Which he knows is rude, but they shouldn't be wasting their time on him. As that thought forms in his head, he feels a previously none existent level of anger rising within him. It doesn't dissipate for the rest of the day, and he wishes he could figure out what he's angry about. It can't be the situation with the Thieves. Because he only pities them for trying to attach themselves to a dead weight. When all they should be doing is letting go, not holding on to him. The anger level rises again, and he faintly realises that the feeling isn't truly coming from him. It's part of him sure, but it isn't something Akira _himself_ is feeling. For some reason he finds himself reaching for the place Arsené and his other Persona's rested. As he reaches for it, he expects to find it empty as it has been since they defeated Yaldabaoth. But instead something latches on to him as he reaches down. They clasp onto his metaphorical hand and refuse to let go.   
Digging onto his grasp like a claw, forcing Akira to remain where he is. 

But, Akira is nothing if not stubborn. So he tries to pull his grasp back, which only serves in helping him to realise the claws true purpose. Because as soon as Akira starts pulling away, the entity gets pulled up as well. To somewhere that Akira can truly see and hear them. For the first few seconds the entity, no Akira knows what this is, and this is a Shadow if he ever saw one, just stares at him. The stare soon turns in to a full on glare, and part of Akira isn't even shocked. "What the fuck are you playing at?!" Akira doesn't even respond, just continues staring at his Shadow. That only serves to make the Shadow angrier though. "Don't play dumb with me and don't you fucking _dare_ ignore me. Not when I've finally managed to get your fucking attention." The Shadow growls at him and Akira flinches a little, but his Shadow doesn't back down. "What happened to you? What happened to the fire that used to burn in your eyes, the one that all but made up your fucking soul? Where has you urge for rebellion gone?" 

Akira continues to stare at his Shadow, no fire in his eyes and his soul just as empty. 'It died.' He knows that despite not having spoken, the Shadow understood him perfectly even as it stares at him silently. Neither of them break eye contact as they continue staring at each other. 

But the Shadow is the one to break the silence in the end. "What do you mean it _died_? It can't be dead or I wouldn't be alive." 

Akira shrugs his shoulders a little. 'Maybe so. But at the end of the day, why is it that Persona users can't have Shadows or Palaces? I'm sure you'll understand what I mean if you think hard enough. In fact I'm sure that you already know the answer. After all, you are a part of me. Some would even say the _truest_ part of me.' It takes a few seconds but the Shadow's eyes widen a little and the claws finally loosen their grip. Forcing the Shadow back into his place inside Akira. 

As the Shadow returns to his place he asks one more question. "When did you figure it out?" 

Akira's demeanour doesn't change, but there's something in his tone that is reminiscent of the true Akira. 'I didn't. I've known it since the beginning. I've known since Futaba.' Shadow Akira nods his head in acceptance. He'll have to rely on the Thieves to help return him to normal. 

Apart from the interaction with his Shadow, the rest of the school day is as boring as it has been for weeks. A large part of Akira's heart hurts when he doesn't see Ryuji waiting by the stairs outside of his classroom. But he knows that it's his own fault, and that he never had a chance with Ryuji anyway. With a silent sigh, he makes his way down the stairs and out of the school. But he refuses to let his shoulders drop. He asked for this, he _wanted_ them to leave him to die. He has no right to suddenly get upset when they comply with his wishes. Especially when it's for their own good. 

He feels someone's eyes on him as he gets to the bottom of the school steps and looks around to see who it is. But when his eyes land on 3 of his Thieves, he turns around and heads for the train station. Not wanting a repeat of the heartbreak and disassociation that made Lala give him the day off in the first place. Having told him to take the day to sort his head out, and to message her if he needs another few days. He honestly didn't want to take the day off when she first told him. But then he got back to the café and he finally realised how much pain he's in because he had nothing else to focus on. 

Sojiro watches him carefully as he enters Leblanc, and Akira isn't all too sure as to why. That is until, he walks past the kitchen and spots the bright red Calling Card on the side of the fridge. He removes the magnet and sends a glance towards Sojiro, before starting for the stairs. He shouldn't be surprised that Sojiro would help them. Even just because Futaba asked him too. 

The Calling Card is dropped on to his desk when Akira gets into the attic. He doesn't want to read it. Not only because it, means that they've been doing the opposite of leaving him to his sorrows. But also that they've been acting as the Phantom Thieves without him and it somehow didn't tip them all off as to how useless Akira truly is. 

It takes the teen a little over half an hour to even pick the card back up. He hasn't done anything in that time except for sit on his bed and contemplate everything. When he finally does pick up the Calling Card again, he sees that it's written, not made out of newspaper clippings like the ones Ryuji made last year were. He doesn't read it for a few more seconds, just stares down at the card, his eyes focusing and unfocusing on the words. Forcing his eyes to focus, he finally starts reading. 

_**'Akira Kurusu has committed the great sin of forgetting and abandoning his rebellious spirit. He has pushed it aside and allowed himself to wallow in the misery others have forced on to him. Some have been willing and content to leave you to drown in this ocean of sorrow. However, we refuse to leave you alone in your hour of need. As such we will take your distorted desires, in doing so we will be giving you back your heart and soul. And hopefully, regain our dear beloved friend as a result.** _

_**From, the leaderless Phantom Thieves.'** _

A shallow laugh forces it's way out of Akira's throat. The past months of heartache trying to cling desperately to his soul, as this one note from his closest friends tries it's hardest to start washing away all the self inflicted pain. A few more laughs trickle out before he drops onto his bed, the Calling Card falling on to the floor. He doesn't even bother to take his glasses off, just lays on his side as tears start forming in the corner of his eyes. He doesn't want to let them fall, doesn't have the right too with how he's treated everyone over the past few months. But they roll down his cheeks none the less, even as his exhaustion takes over and Akira cries himself to sleep, not for the first time. But this time, they're not all tears of self-hatred. Some of them are tears of happiness, guilt and some of just plain old sadness. 

Sojiro listens from downstairs as Akira laughs. When the room upstairs falls into silence, he makes his way up. Picking the Calling Card up and moving it to the desk, Sojiro takes in Akira's appearance. The man frowns when he notices the tear tracks on Akira's face. With a soft roll of his eyes he removes Akira's glasses. Laughing to himself when he thinks of the times he's caught Futaba asleep with hers still on as well. But he doesn't wake the teenager up, allowing him to keep sleeping, because God knows he needs it. He turns around to move back down in to the café, to tell Futaba that Akira has read the Calling Card. As his foot hits the first step he turns back to look at Akira. He knows that the teens know what they're doing. After all he saw them help Futaba. But he really hopes they can do it again with his newest charge. After all, the boy won't look after himself so he needs somebody else to do it for him. 

**Sojiro:** He read it 

**Futaba:** Perfect. 

**Futaba:** Thank you Sojiro

With Sojiro's part in the plan over and done with, the man stands behind the bar of his café. He knows there's no point in worrying, after all he can't help Akira at this point in time. Not until his friends finish whatever it is they do in the Palaces they told him about. Once they've completed their business and Akira is aware of himself again, _that_ is when Sojiro can start helping again. If only by forcing him to eat a god damn meal and forcing him to allow Takemi to check him over. He knows that the second one will be difficult, what with how stubborn the boy is, but that's a bridge he'll cross when he gets to it. After all he could just guilt trip the boy. It wouldn't feel great, but it would get the teen checked over. After all he cares more about other people than he does himself and Sojiro doubts that that will ever change. 

But for now, all he can do is trust that Futaba and Akira's friends know what they're doing. Trust them to help the boy return to himself so that they can start healing him completely. Because Sojiro may not understand what they do as the Phantom Thieves, but he's not an idiot. And things like this don't come easy. Whatever they solve inside Akira's heart will only get the ball rolling like it did with Futaba. Sure, they fixed her heart from what Akira and Futaba told him that night. But it still took her a whole week of constantly being around the other teens until she was comfortable enough with them to go to the beach. And even then, she couldn't go anywhere without Akira by her side or else they risk her having an anxiety attack in public. So yes, he knows that whatever they do tonight will _help_ Akira. But it won't _fix_ him. It will only allow him to let them in again. Which is honestly all Sojiro wants at this point. He's already watched Futaba pull herself away from the world around her because of meddling adults. He doesn't want to have to watch another teen destroy themselves like that. 

So if the way to stop that is entrusting Akira's fate to a bunch of teens, even when he doesn't really have any good idea of what they're going to do. Then that's what Sojiro will do. Anything to not have to watch another bright, clever, funny and kind teen from locking themselves away again. 

He waits for the end of the day for when he usually closes the café. When it finally comes time to close up, he turns off the lights and starts cleaning up to get the store clean for tomorrow, not that there's much _to_ clean. But it's a good habit to keep so that the café doesn't ever get too messy. He spares a glance over to the stairs as he finishes cleaning. He doesn't want to risk waking the teen, and God knows those stairs can be extremely loud. Seemingly exclusively when it's quieter. But he _does_ want to check on the teen that lives in his attic. 

As he climbs the stairs, he knows realistically that nothing will have changed and Akira will still be asleep. Having finally lost the battle with his exhaustion. So when he sees that Akira is still asleep (still in his uniform as well which he knows he really should wake him up for, because he knows Akira will be uncomfortable in the morning) he relaxes a little. As he stands at the top of the stairs he hesitates, wanting to wake the teen up, so that he can sleep more comfortably. So with a sigh and a shake of his head, he walks over to the teen and shakes his shoulder lightly. Unsurprised when Akira barely reacts, having fallen so deep into his exhaustion. After being shaken again, Akira finally cracks open an eye. "I'm heading out for the night. Get out of your uniform before going back to sleep." Akira grumbles in dismay, but does start sitting up, so Sojiro counts it as a win. He doesn't turn any lights on as he leaves. Not wanting to wake Akira up any more than he already has. Hoping that if he leaves the café as dark as it is, then Akira will be able to fall back asleep once he gets changed. 

With the café cleaned, and his eldest charge checked up on. Sojiro locks the café and heads home, to wait for Futaba to get back. Having a feeling she's going to tell him what happened when she does. So he settles down onto the couch, turning the TV on for some background noise. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imma be honest here.... the confrontation with Akira and his Shadow came out of *literal* nowhere. Like I was writing the chapter and boom. Now Shadow Kira's here. 
> 
> Actually tbh a lot of this chapter came out of nowhere because I had no idea what I was writing for most of it. But I think it turned out pretty good all things considered. I'm pretty proud of it at least
> 
> ALSO! I can't promise to have the next chapter out in a week. I'll try my absolute fucking hardest to not let it be another month before I upload again. But I can't promise anything. What I *can* promise you though is that this story WILL get finished one way or another


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira's heart is stolen and everything comes to a close

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably should have mentioned this earlier in the fic considering it doesn't come up at all. But in the universe of this fic, Akira doesn't leave Ryuji alone with those two men in Shinjuku. Because SERIOUSLY Akira steps in to help a random woman on the side of the street from being possibly raped, but his BEST FRIEND is in that same situation and all it takes is a fucking sentence from Morgana to get him to leave. So no, that doesn't happen in this fic. In fact the whole scene doesn't even exist because every time I replay this game it just makes me so incredibly ANGRY

After seeing Akira leave the school the 3 students (as wells as Morgana of course) head off after him. They're meeting the other 3 Thieves at Futaba's house. They would wait a little for Akira to get further ahead, but Yusuke is already at Futaba's place meaning Makoto and Haru will get there sooner rather than later and they don't want to make them wait for ages. So once Akira is out of their sight, they leave the school grounds, heading for the train station. 

It takes them longer than they'd like to get to Futaba's house. Because they didn't want Akira to see them, they couldn't take the backstreets. Which function as a shortcut to Futaba's house. After all, Akira is likely to get suspicious if he sees them, which might stop him from reading his Calling Card. So when they do finally get to Futaba's house, they're the last ones to arrive. "Sorry for the wait. We didn't want to make Akira suspicious so we had to take the long way around." Haru just nods her head in understanding as the other 2 turn to look at them. "But, we're here now. So let's head inside and wait for Sojiro to tell us he's read it okay?" With nods and hums of confirmation across the board, Futaba cuts through the group to unlock the door and let them in. 

Like last time, they take up residence in Futaba's room. Again like last time, they sit in silence. None of them want to break the silence that they're stewing in for risk of saying something that could cause one of the others to worry if they were doing the right thing. After all, the last thing any of them want to happen right now is for one of them to give up because they became unsure of their plan. 

They end up waiting almost an hour for Sojiro's message, telling them that he read the card. They sit there in complete silence for those 40 minutes. So they each end up jumping a little when Futaba's phone goes off. None of them realised how intently they were waiting for her phone to chime. In her rush to grab the phone, she almost knocks it off of her desk. Managing to get a hand on it though, she brings it in front of her and unlocks it to read Sojiro's message. "He's read it." She shoots Sojiro a thank you text before turning to the others. "Let's go. Sooner we head in, sooner we can help." 

With no hesitation, the Thieves are stood up, ready to enter Akira's Palace for the last time. Futaba stands at the front of the group as she leads them all towards the treasure room. "I doubt any of you have forgotten Mona's warning. But please make sure to be careful, we don't know what we're walking in to. I'll try and heal you whenever I can, and do my best to stop you from running out of steam. But I don't know how much help I'll be able to give you." They stand outside of the treasure room as she talks. 

Haru smiles at the younger softly. "We'll be careful Oracle. We promise." She looks over at the other Thieves though. "That is a point we should speak about though, who's going to be on the front lines and who's going to be backup? 

Ryuji, to no one's surprise is the first to talk. What he says however, _is_ a surprise. "I have an idea." They all turn to look at him, waiting for him to explain further. "I think it should be me, Panther, Fox and Noir on the front lines. Me and Panther because I'm our hardest physical hitter and without Akira, Panther is probably the strongest Persona user, not to mention that she has the most healing spells besides Mona. We've all gotten used to our Persona's again yes, but I feel like those two have gotten back more precision with their Persona's than the rest of us. Does that sound okay with everyone?" 

Ann nods her head quickly. "I'm okay with that. Fox, Noir, you okay with being on the front lines?" Both nod their heads quickly, which of course they do, none of them are going to wish they _weren't_ the best choice for the front lines. 

Morgana pipes up quickly. "I think that's a good idea. Me and Makoto can act as backup should anything go wrong." 

A few more nods pass through the group, before Futaba opens the door. Letting them see what awaits them. Which is Akira's treasure, his Joker mask. Ryuji reaches out to take it upon Morgana's insistence (later when they're out of the Palace he'll find it funny hat Morgana still drools over people's treasures). As it sits in his hands, he's careful not to drop it. "Of course it's his Joker mask." Futaba makes a noise of agreement from behind him. 

But before any of the other Thieves can do anything, or attempt to leave without a fight, a red gloved hand reaches towards Ryuji's and snatches the mask up. Snapping his head up, Ryuji already knows that the Shadow is stood in front of him. Only one of them has such blood red gloves, in contrast with jet black sleeves. As his eyes make contact with the Shadow's he curses himself slightly, he should've had a tighter grip on the mask. 

Shadow Akira takes 2 steps backwards from Ryuji, just out of arms reach now, and raises the mask to his face. Ryuji's heart stutters slightly at the sight of yellow eyes staring at him from something that is otherwise a carbon copy of the other teen. As the mask comes to rest on the Shadow's face, Arsène comes to life behind him. But his colours are gone, instead of the deep red and black that usually make up the Persona, he's made up of different shades of grey, with only a few bits of black. Even the usual fire that surrounds the true personification of Akira's heart is colourless. Instead of being a bright burning blue, it's a stark cold white. Almost too bright too look at but muted at the same time. Like they're looking at him through a strange filter that's removed all his colours. 

The Shadow turns to Arsène, raising his head to look up at the demon. A few seconds later, Arsène's chains shoot towards the Shadow, who shows no sense of panic or fear, and begin encasing him. First his wrists, before one wraps around his thin waist and pull him into the Shadow. As the Shadow gets enveloped by the warped Persona, the colour of his flames returns a little. They're still muted and aren't _nearly_ as bright as they should be, but they're blue again. 'Arsène' looks down at the Thieves scattered about the room and flares his wings slightly. 

Only 3 of the Thieves have seen Arsène before. Those 3 being, Ryuji Morgana and Ann. Ann to a slightly lesser extent than the other two as by the time she joined the team, Akira was already starting to collect his arsenal of Personas. But they each know that this isn't how Arsène is meant to look. Ryuji turns his head to find Morgana, only to find him already looking his way. Not breaking eye contact, he jerks his head in the Personas direction, concern etched in to his features. Morgana just nods his head a little, confirming their suspicions. Either this isn't the real Arsène and it's just been made to fit in with the greyscale theme of the Palace. Or he _is_ real and something is wrong. The other Thieves haven't seen Arsène before, but all of them can tell that this isn't how he's meant to look. 

Arsène's wings flare once again, and the Thieves realise that they only have a few seconds to get in a formation before he attacks. Scrambling as quick as they can in to position, the designated Thieves fall into an attack position, while Makoto and Morgana hang back as a line of defence. As they're all doing that, Futaba allows her own Persona to pull her into her usual seat and she hovers above the Thieves as they wait for Arsène to attack. 

And attack he does, making a sweeping motion with his claw a wave of red and black souls shoot towards them. Somehow, all 4 of them manage to jump over and away from the souls as they shoot towards them. "Everyone try and inflict an ailment on him. If we can cause him constant damage or stop him from moving it'll help us out immensely!" Following Futaba's instructions, Yusuke rips his mask off and casts a Bufula. Trying to encase the Persona in ice. It doesn't work however, and Arsène removes the growing ice with another slash of his claws. 

Refusing to be disheartened after only one attempt so Ann, Haru and Ryuji all follow suit and try out their own powers in an attempt to give them an advantage. But no matter how much they wished they had a Persona between them with bless powers, none of them do meaning that they have no way to exploit Arsène's one weakness. "Okay so, that plan's gone out the window." She scans Arsène quickly, trying to think of another way to make the fight easier on them, but in the end she can't think of anything. "We're just going to have to whittle down his health bit by bit. It's most likely going to take a while, so Panther can you make sure everyone stays as close to healthy as possible?" 

The blonde nods her head immediately. "I can do that. I'll try keeping up with my attacks on the side as well." 

Futaba hums her acknowledgement from her spot inside Necronomicon. "Thanks Panther. I'll try my best to keep you all healthy and energised whenever I can. But I can't make any promises." 

The fighting Thieves all give her a positive response, before returning their attention to the fight. With Futaba focused in Necronomicon, Ryuji ends up taking Akira's role and gives the other 3 Thieves orders to the best of his ability. Most of his attention being spent on making sure they don't get hit too hard or too many times and pass out. "Panther! Heal Fox while me and Noir go on the attack. Fox, you take a second to rest while she heals you." 

Yusuke and Ann nod their heads in unison and take a step backwards while Ryuji and Haru run forwards to attack again. As Haru gets closer to Arsène, the Persona flares his wings and throws Akira out at them. The Shadow comes flying towards the teen, before swinging his knife a few times. He lands 4 slashes on her, before the chains around his waist and wrists become taut and pull him back in to the Persona's chest. Ryuji sends a Zionga towards the Persona as he pulls Haru back towards Ann who just finished healing Yusuke. "Panther! Can you heal Haru as well?" The blonde nods quickly, her pigtails bouncing as she turns to the other girl. Dodging the next curse attack that comes their way, Ryuji stares at Arsène. "So... He can apparently throw the Shadow out at us without any warning. We'll need to be careful of that, so try and keep your distance if possible." 

Yusuke nods as he comes to stand by Ryuji. "I believe that would be the best course of action yes. But apart from Panther, everyone else is a close quarters fighter." 

Ryuji grumbles slightly as he shoots another spell at Arsène, Yusuke following with his own. "I know. But we don't have much of a choice." He turns his head to Haru as her and Ann return to their positions. "I would suggest that you try and avoid direct attacks though, Noir. Your axe is a lot slower than our weapons." 

Haru nods her head in agreement. "Very well. I will use Milady's abilities unless absolutely necessary." Ryuji sighs in relief before swearing as he gets hit by a curse attack. 

After that, the fight is long and arduous. Futaba is only able to give them a boost a few times during it. And only manages to heal them twice. Ann ended up having to spend most of the fight acting as a healer, which drained her energy immensely. So when they finally defeat Arsène, she feels thankful that Akira always tried to take the brunt of the healing duties whenever he could, relying on her as a backup. Before feeling a wave of guilt from the thought, because that's just another thing that he did for them that they took for granted. 

When Arsène is finally defeated, he drops to the ground and disappears, leaving the Shadow in his place. Joker's domino mask drops to the ground a foot or so away. Haru makes her way over to pick up the mask as the rest of the Thieves crowd around him. Futaba is the first one to act at the end of the battle, dropping out of Necronomicon right in front of the Shadow. "Akira. I know you won't truly believe me when I say this, but we all _want_ to be around you. Please stop pushing us away and locking us out." 

Ryuji comes up to kneel next to her. "She's right dude. We all enjoy spending time with you. You're so fun to hang around with how could we _not_ want to be around you?" 

The shadow looks between the 2 as the rest of the Thieves huddle around them. "These two are right, Akira. I know that your parents are terrible, I know that you've been through far more than you should've. But we still want to hang out with you. You're important to all of us." 

Haru finally joins the rest of the group, kneeling in front of the Shadow. Who's looking around the group with tears in the corner of his eyes, threatening to spill out. She holds the mask out to him. "It's okay to be selfish every now and then Akira. You've been selfless for too long, it's okay to want things for yourself." Akira's Shadow blinks the tears out of his eyes. She holds the mask out towards the Shadow. "Akira, it's going to be tough, but we're here to help you get better. As is Sojiro and all your other friends in Tokyo." Akira reaches out for the mask, before pausing. Leaving his hand hanging in the air, just above his mask. "Go on. Take it Akira." The Shadow looks between her and his mask, before continuing his grab for the mask. 

As soon as the tip of his fingers make contact with the porcelain texture of his mask, he disappears. The Thieves all panic for a second, before Arsène takes his place. The real Arsène this time, in all his blood red glory, no muted colours to be seen. Ryuji's face stretches in to a smile, when he sees Arsène's full colours. The blue fire surrounding him as bright as it should be. The Shadow looks down at them all, his wings flapping slightly as he floats in front of them. "I would like to thank you all for helping my other self. For being so determined no matter how he acted towards you. I wish to ask you however, not to give up on him now." 

Futaba smiles up at the Shadow. At the return of Akira's heart. "We won't. I promise. We know this won't fix him completely. We're still gonna be here for him. Even on his bad days." 

Arsène nods his head and tips his hat towards the Thieves. "I give you my thanks." With that, he disappears again in a flash of blue fire. 

For a few seconds, the Thieves stand there in silence for a few seconds. But before they can pull themselves together, the Palace starts crumbling and collapsing around them. Meaning they all need to stand up and _get out_. So with little hesitation, they each stand up and start running for the entrance. Getting to the entrance just in time to get out of the Metaverse safely. 

When they exit the Metaverse and reappear in front of the Sakura house, they stand around it in silence for a few minutes before turning their heads and looking in the direction of Leblanc. With little hesitation, they turn fully and run through the backstreets towards the café. Stopping only when they reach it to stand outside. As they all stand outside the café, they shift from foot to foot and cast each other nervous glances. 

Futaba is eventually, the one to break the silence. "Look. From what we know of Palace holders he probably isn't even awake yet. Especially not if he's in a similar place to what I was in. Which means he might not wake up for a week or so yet." 

The Thieves don't seem to get any calmer at her words, so Morgana pipes up from below them. "If you're all so worried, I can sneak in through his window and check on him." That _does_ manage to calm the Thieves. So he gives them a nod of confirmation, before hopping up onto the wall beside Leblanc. He turns back to the Thieves for a second. "I'll be back in a minute. Wait here." They all give a nod, and he turns back around to make his way up to Akira's window. 

The teens window is closed when he gets up to the window ledge, which really isn't a surprise. But he can still see Akira, even if he can't enter the room. Seeing that Akira is asleep as Futaba had suggested, he watches him with a careful eye for a few seconds. When he feels satisfied that Akira is sleeping peacefully, he jumps down from the window ledge and makes his way back to the group of teens. "He's asleep. Seems to be a fairly peaceful sleep for what must be the first time in quite a while. So that's at least one good thing we've done for him." 

Futaba lets out a slight yawn, but the small smile doesn't leave her face. "Speaking of sleeping. You should all head home and get some rest. I'm going to fill Sojiro in first but I'll be doing the same soon enough." 

Ryuji hums an approving noise at the thought of sleep. "Sounds like a plan. You slept for a long while after you Palace was destroyed and I can only assume that Akira will as well, so let us know when he wakes up?" 

She nods her head quickly, her smile getting firmer despite her tiredness. "I will. As soon as I hear he's awake I'll let you all know. Okay?" Happy that Futaba will keep her promise and tell them pretty much as soon as Akira wakes up, the Thieves all agree that sleep sounds great and so they turn around and head for the train station. Leaving Futaba and Morgana alone in front of a closed Leblanc. "Let's go. I want to tell Sojiro everything he needs to know _now_ so that I can go to sleep." Morgana nods in approval, he's tired himself after all. Before falling in to step with Futaba as she begins the short walk to her house. 

Sojiro is still sat waiting on the couch when the two enter the house. She immediately breaks out in to a smile once Morgana walks past her towards her room. "We did it, Sojiro." A smile of his own forms on the mans face. After all, despite his outward appearance, he cares deeply for both of his wards and all 3 of them know it. "I figured since he's asleep above your café, I should fill you in on what might happen as an immediate consequence of our actions." Sojiro's face falls in to worry slightly, so she shakes her hands in front of her quickly to correct his train of thought. "Everything went well, we did everything right so he'll be okay. I more meant the fact that he may very well stay asleep for at least a good few days." 

Sojiro nods his head slightly. "Thanks for the heads up. That's not something I would've liked to figure out on my own." Futaba snickers a little despite herself, so Sojiro continues. "Is there anything else I need to know?" 

The hacker thinks for a few seconds before looking up at her guardian with a slight shrug. "I can't think of anything important off of the top of my head but I'll let you know if I do. But apart from that, just be careful with him when he first wakes up. This _is_ Akira we're talking about so there's a chance he might wake up and be fine. Well not _fine_ but you know what I mean." She shakes her head a little to shake herself out of her thoughts. "But I mean it more in the sense that he may not respond to anything you say or do when he wakes up. After all he just had people make a drastic change to his heart in the span of his Palace collapsing. Which takes about 5 minutes in total. He'll probably eat and drink if you put something in front of him and told him to eat. But he might not give you a response if you speak to him." 

Sojiro nods his head in understanding. "Got it. So unless he's responsive, just put a plate of food in front of him and tell him to eat it." She snickers a little at his words. She knows how Sojiro feels about Akira missing pretty much all of his meals. Unable to stomach more than a few bites even if he _tried_ to eat something. Needless to say, his feelings on the matter, and her own for that matter, aren't positive in the slightest. "You go and get some sleep. I'll keep an eye on Akira and let you know when he's awake. If he is responsive though, he'll probably message you himself. I can only assume he won't appreciate the way he's been treating you and the others since he got back. 

It does, as the all suspected it would, take a week for Akira too wake up. 

He opens his eyes to see the ceiling of Leblanc staring back at him. He lays there and stares up at it for a minute or two, before feeling his way around his mattress to find his phone. He wants to know how long he was out. A quick look at his lock screen tells him it's currently a little after 4 in the morning and he'd slept for a little more than 7 days. Not too long after, he feels a new yet familiar presence beside him. Turning his head without moving the rest of his body yet, he looks to the space beside him. To see Arsène floating beside his bed. Any exhaustion he was previously feeling is blown away from his consciousness as he shoots up to stare at his Persona. A few tears starting to collect at the corners of his eyes. "Arsène.... I'm so happy to see you again." 

Arsène bows his head towards the teen. The movement is stoic but Akira can feel the care behind it. "And I you, Trickster. You have your friends to thank for bringing us back together. As you had corrupted your heart by returning to that false home of yours." He bows his head again. "But I am truly, glad to see the real you again." 

Akira moves towards the Persona, perching off the edge of the bed. If anybody could see him they'd probably wonder how he hasn't fallen off yet. "Arsène. I'm sorry. If my Palace forming caused you to feel any pain, I want to apologise. And give you my word that I won't ever let it happen again." 

Arsène smiles a bit. It isn't something that can be easily seen, but with their connection, Akira can feel the affection that is rolling off of the Persona in waves. "I will admit that it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience. But I know that none of this was something you wished for. So yes, of course I forgive you, Trickster." Akira lets out an immense sigh of relief at the information. "But thanks to our re-forged connection, I know that I am not the only one whose forgiveness your seeking." When Akira's head drops down in shame, the strength of it strong enough to feel without the connection of a Persona and their holder. After a second, when Akira's feelings of shame and self hatred don't fade or dissipate, he rests a clawed hand on Akira's head. Making sure his claws don't get caught in the unruly black curls. "Trickster, you cannot hold your actions against yourself forever. Your friends have already forgiven you, you only have to ask." 

Akira finally raises his head, looking up at Arsène. "Yeah. You're right Arsène. I'll talk to them...." 

Arsène strokes his hair one more time, knowing exactly just how touch starved the boy is before pulling away. "Message the Hermit, first. She seemed to be the one the most torn up about it. But your Chariot was also very upset by everything." With a determined nod, Akira picks up his phone. Knowing that no matter what time of the morning or night it is, the chance of Futaba being awake and seeing his message is extremely high. Much higher at least than the chance of one of the others being awake right now, seen as checking his phone tells him that he's been talking with Arsène for a little under an hour and it's now just before 5 AM. "I will see you later, Trickster." With that he returns to his former home in Akira's heart. Leaving behind a whisper that Akira can only just make out. "Their forgiveness is not something you need to earn. But you must allow yourself to accept it. Akira can feel Arsène where he rests in the deepest part of his heart once again. He allows himself a few short minutes to revel in the feeling. Before he decides that it's way past time he bit the bullet and messaged Futaba. So with a deep breath. He unlocks his phone and pulls up his conversation with Futaba. 

**Akira** : Hey, Futaba. Thank you for not giving up on me. 

He's a little surprised when no response comes from his message. Not that Akira would blame her if she decided he needed a taste of his own medicine and decides to ignore. If that is what she decided, if that's what _any_ of them decided, he'd accept it. He'd swallow that particular pill no matter how bitter it tasted and how hard it would be to take. Because he does kind of deserve it. After all, his friends went through so much effort to bring him back to Tokyo and get him out of a bad situation. To which he responded by ignoring them completely. 

So Akira sits on his bed, his back pressed against the wall to keep him grounded. He had settled on the fact that Futaba doesn't want to talk to him once he'd seen that she read his message. But again, he doesn't blame her in the slightest. So the footsteps clambering up the stairs like their owner will die if they don't reach the top come as a great surprise to him. Partly, because he hadn't heard the café door open. Didn't hear the click of the lock or the way the door creaks slightly when it opens. Something that Akira has always thought added an extra bit of charm to the café. The footsteps stop suddenly and so Akira looks up to see the person stood at the top of the stairs. To be met with a panting Futaba. She must have raced to get ready and here after she'd read his text. Morgana stands next to her with a sad yet happy expression swimming in his eyes. "Futaba...." 

The second her name leaves his mouth, she runs across the room and launches herself at him. He manages to catch her with practiced ease, despite not having anticipated it happening. He wraps his arms around her waist as she buries her head into his shoulder and cries apologies in to his shirt. Morgana joins the two on the bed shortly after. Sitting beside Akira and purring, satisfies when he feels Akira relax a little more with the sound. After a few more mumbled apologies, she pulls out of Akira's grasp and sits beside him instead, leaning against his side. "I'm sorry, Akira. We should never have let you go back to Inaba. We should have fought harder to keep you here because it's what we all wanted." 

Morgana pipes up from his other side. "I'm sorry too. Ever since we started acting as the Phantom Thieves I shoved so much on to you. You planned our infiltrations, chose when we stole treasures. You were in charge of making sure we all had the best weapons possible. Not to mention you were our ace in the hole every time. You were there to cover each of our weakness and bolster all of our strengths. But we never thanked you for it. That wasn't fair on you. Not to mention everything that happened with Akechi. We let you deal with too much of that on your own. The rest of us should have made contingencies in case something went wrong, which we know now that it sorta did. But we didn't. We just let you deal with it on your own." 

Akira face softens, as he wraps an arm around Futaba's shoulder and pets Morgana's head a little bit. "You don't have anything to apologise for. I'm the one who should be apologising to you guys. You all worked so hard to bring me back here and I repaid that by ignoring you." 

Futaba shoots up from her place beside Akira, while Morgana's fur bristles slightly. "Don't start with that. Sure, we may have been upset by the fact that you wouldn't talk to us. But we _understand_ and we aren't angry with you. You'll let us in now, right?" Akira nods his head in agreement almost immediately, albeit slowly. "Then none of your actions matter anymore. _Ours_ however. Are what threw you in to your situation in the first place. So _yes_ we have things to apologise for. Like how we all took your hard work for granted and never thanked you for it once." 

Akira grumbles slightly as he does so, but he does accept both of their apologies. "Okay. If you say you don't hold my terrible attitude against me then I accept your apologies despite how needless they are." 

Futaba shakes her head quickly, even though Morgana settles back down after Akira accepts his apology. "Akira. Our apologies are not needless. Your attitude may have stung a little bit sure. But our actions _hurt_ you. They gave you a Palace and made you believe you couldn't look after yourself. So no, they're not needless and yes they need to be said." 

Akira's head bows slightly at how little room for argument there is against Futaba's words. "Futaba everything I did for you and the Thieves I would do again in a heartbeat. Without even thinking twice. But alright. I'll accept your apology." Futaba sags in relief at the admission and flops her head on to his shoulder to let out a shaky sigh of relief. "I assume you told Sojiro I was awake?" She nods her head slowly after managing to lift it from where it rests on her brothers shoulder. "Don't suppose he'd let me take some food from his kitchen to eat something? I don't know whether or not it's because you stole my treasure and destroyed my Palace. But I can finally feel how hungry I've made myself after missing so many meals. It feels like my stomach is trying to eat me alive." 

A heavy snort comes from the top of the stairs. They look over to see Sojiro stood at the top of the stairs, a glass of water in one hand and a bowl of rice in the other. "I'm not surprised kid. You missed so many meals I'm surprised you didn't pass out." Akira mumbles something that sounds suspiciously close to 'I'm used to it' which causes Futaba to whack him (lightly) on the arm. "Don't force yourself to eat all of it or you'll be sick. Your stomach won't be able to handle much right now. So just eat until your full and then drink some water." Akira accepts the rice and water with a small grateful smile. Setting the water on the window ledge, he turns to his food and starts eating.

After a second he stops and looks up at Futaba. "I assume you've already told the others that I'm awake and lucid. But could you also tell them that any apologies they feel the need to make have already been accepted and that they've all been forgiven?" Futaba nods her head quickly with a smile gracing her features, before pulling her phone back out of her pocket and relaying Akira's message to the others. She receives a slew of instant replies. All sounding glad and relieved that Akira has forgiven them for pushing everything on to his shoulders and driving him into such a bad place. Both literally and figuratively. 

Once all of the non present Thieves have replied, she turns up to Akira and tells him that they are all extremely happy that he's forgiven them so easily. To which Akira just rolls his eyes slightly because in his eyes at least, there was nothing for him to forgive. He's the one that did everything wrong. He's the one who ignored them all for weeks on end since coming back to Tokyo. And for multiple months after he returned to Inaba. He's fairly certain that he'll forgive himself for his actions and attitude eventually. Once his subconscious fully comes to terms with what his Thieves have told him. But for now he needs to put the issue to one side to start getting better. That issue will resolve itself once he's in a better place mentally. So with the knowledge that his friends, will be here as soon as physically possible, he turns back to his food and eats as much as his stomach can handle. 

But all too soon, far too soon for the rooms other occupants, he can't eat any more and sets the bowl down. He notices the look Sojiro and Futaba share and starts reaching back down for the bowl on the floor, before Sojiro raises a hand in defiance, shaking it slightly to make sure Akira knows he isn't to push himself. "I meant it when I told you not to push yourself. If your full your full. It's fine, your appetite will come back to you eventually. We need to work up to it so we don't make you throw up." Akira nods his head slightly and leans back against the wall, raising the glass to his lips. He takes a few sips before realising how dry his throat is and has to fight against downing the rest of the glass in a single gulp. Sojiro raises his eyebrow at the teen slightly before sighing. "Finish that glass and you can have a coffee if you want one." That throws Akira's self control out of the window, he downs the rest of the glass in 2 gulps, there was more in it than he originally thought, while Sojiro rolls his eyes slightly. Akira would find it funny from an outside perspective as well, but Akira hasn't been able to stomach more than a few sips of coffee in _weeks_ and with his stomach actually full for once, he knows he won't feel like throwing up after one sip. So after finishing his water he starts sitting up, reaching for bowl again. But Sojiro swoops in and takes the glass from him, picking the glass up as well. "You sit there. I'll make you a coffee and bring it up for you. But don't go getting used to this now. You'll be back to making your own coffee again soon." 

Akira shoots Sojiro a grateful smile as the man heads towards the stairs, before leaning back against the wall as Morgana and Futaba both curl in closer to him. Morgana pressing up against his thigh, purring in content while Futaba wraps her arms around Akira's and rests her forehead on his shoulder. "I'm glad to have you back Akira." Akira hums in response. He doesn't really know how else to respond. Because he isn't truly well enough to be back yet, but he knows he will be once he is. So a hum seems to be the only response he _can_ give at the minute. 

It takes Sojiro a few minutes to come back up with Akira's coffee. But rather than downing it like he did with the water. Akira takes his time to savour the coffee, because he hasn't had one in weeks despite how he'd been craving some. 

As he takes his first few sips of coffee, there's a knock at the café door downstairs. Sojiro gives his 2 wards a smile before heading back down the stairs to let the ragtag group of teens in. There's the sound of the lock clicking, the slight creak of the door as it opens and a few murmured thanks shot in Sojiro's direction most likely. Before a group of footsteps break out into a run towards the stairs, pounding up the loud attic staircase towards Akira's room. Unsurprisingly, Ryuji is the first one to reach the attic. He takes the same route that Futaba did, and after pause that lasted roughly half a second, runs the rest of the way to throw himself at Akira with a few mumbled curses. "Fuck, dude. It's so good to see you." Akira buries his face into Ryuji's hair with a smile as the others make their way upstairs. 

"It's good to see you too Ryuji." He takes a few deep breaths before he lifts his head to look up at the teens on the other side of his rooms. "It's good to see you guys as well. I'm sorry for ignoring you all for so long." They all just wave his apology off, and it doesn't take long for the 7 of them to be crowded around their leader on his small bed. Ryuji and Futaba have taken up residence at his sides and they aren't giving it away to anyone. Morgana is resting on Akira's lap, purring in content, as Ann reaches around Ryuji to stroke him. Haru is sat on Futaba's other side. While Yusuke and Makoto sit on the floor in front of the bed. Still more than close enough to be in contact with Akira, to help reassure themselves that they're not being shut out anymore. But they're both content and happy to sit on the floor leaning back against Akira's legs as the group sit in silence together. 

The 7 of them end up spending almost 2 hours in complete silence. The thing that breaks their silence in the end, is Akira's stomach rumbling. The other Thieves look up at him in concern so he just shrugs his shoulders slightly, being careful to not dislodge either Ryuji or Futaba from his sides. "The most food I've had in weeks was a bowl of rice Sojiro gave me earlier. It's probably been absorbed quicker because my body has nothing else to break down except itself. But I'll probably be sick if I eat anymore right now. I'll ask Sojiro if I can steal some of his food in a few hours." The looks of concern don't dissipate so Akira shakes his head. "Seriously, I can live for a few more hours. Like I said it's probably a good idea not to keep filling my stomach right now or else I seriously might be sick." Finally calming down on the stares of concern, the Thieves stand up stretching out their locked up joints. Ryuji especially needs to stretch out his leg, now regretting having it curled in to his chest for the past two hours as he sat curled up in to Akira. 

"Anybody want to watch a stupid film?" Gathering a few chuckles as his response, Akira gets up as well to go pull out his collection of films. He doesn't own all that many, but he does have a few good films. As well as a few he's brought over the years just because he thought the premise of the movie was stupid (which they usually did turn out to be). Placing the pile of joke movies on the bed, he fans them out and lets the Thieves pick which one they want to watch. It doesn't take them long to pick one. Nobody except Akira has seen any of the films, so they decide to pick the one with the stupidest plot and see how it goes. 

So that's how the Thieves spend the rest of their day. Piled on top of each other in Akira's room watching terrible movies that somehow still manage to pull a laugh out of each of them at one point or another. They only take a few breaks from the terrible movies to get drinks in between them, and halfway through the second one when Akira's stomach rumbles again and the Thieves decide for him that it's past time he ate something. 

By the time the clock hits 8 O'clock, they've watched 3 and a half movies and spent a bit of time joking around with each other when a scene got too boring. Akira informs the group that the trains will stop running soon so they should start thinking about heading home. To which they all agree to, with varying levels of worry. "I'll talk to you guys tomorrow okay? I promise you I won't shut you all out again. And you know I don't break my promises." With that confirmation made, the Thieves start planning to head out. But when Ryuji turns to follow them towards the stairs, Akira shoots his hand out to catch his wrist. Ryuji turns to look at him with a little worry shooting through his expression. Akira shoots him a small smile to try and convince him to relax and luckily, it works. "Will you stay over tonight?" All of the tension in Ryuji's body melts away at his question, leaving the blonde stood there with a fond smile on his face. 

"Of course I will." He doesn't make any move to shake his wrist out of Akira's grip unlike when Akira's Shadow grabbed him. "Just let me text my mum so she knows what's going on." Akira nods his head and lets go of Ryuji's wrist, slowly pulling his arm back to his side. 

Futaba watches the interaction as the other Thieves walk down the stairs. While Ryuji reaches in to his pocket to pull his phone out, Futaba heads back towards where Akira is sat on the bed. Before he can say anything, she pulls him into a hug. "She squeezes him tightly for a minute before pulling away. "You deserve to be happy okay? So I'll take Morgana for one more night so that the 2 of you can talk." 

Akira pulls her back in for another hug, squeezing her just as tightly as she did him, before letting her go. "Thanks, Taba." Choosing not to respond, she shoots him a bright smile, before picking Morgana up and walking down the stairs. 

She stops at the top of the staircase and turns back to the two teens, one of whom is still focused on their phone. "Oh by the way. Sojiro said if you get hungry again you can take some food as long as you don't take too much. Or you can make you own if you wanted." Akira nods in response, and shoots her one last smile before she leaves the café for the night. 

When Ryuji finally looks up from his phone, he turns to Akira with a bright smile. "My mum said I'm good to stay over. She also told me to let you know that your welcome in our house at any time." He chuckles slightly as he puts his phone back away. "Which I'm pretty sure is here way of telling you to come over so she can meet you." Akira tilts his head slightly, confused as to why Ryuji's mum would be so desperate to meet him. Ryuji flushes a light shade of pink and averts his eyes for a second. "I may or may not have spent a lot time talking about you to her and now she's desperate to meet you. So that she can thank you for all you've done for me." 

It's Akira's turn to blush this time, and his pale cheeks show the colour so well that it makes Ryuji smile at him in return. "I haven't done _that_ much to help you, Ryuji. Not enough to make her this excited to meet me." 

Ryuji turns to face Akira from his new spot on the bed with a frown on his face. "Nuh uh. Shut up with that bullshit. Akira you have brought so much goodness in to my life. In to _all_ of our lives. Okay?" Akira makes a noise of acquiescence but Ryuji isn't satisfied with that in the slightest. He pulls himself up to move closer to the other teen. " _Akira_ I can't speak for the others. But dude, you have made my life so much better than it was before. Before you came to Tokyo, I was a ball of anger and repression with no way to handle it. You helped make me such a better person. So of _course_ my mum wants to meet you." 

Akira raises his head to look over at Ryuji. "Repression?"

Ryuji groans and drops his head on to Akira's shoulder. "Of course you latched on to that instead of literally anything else." He shakes his head a little, even though it's still resting on Akira's shoulder. 

Akira uses a hand to lift Ryuji's head so he'll meet his eyes again. "Ryuji, Repression? What were you repressing?" 

The blonde blinks a few times, but he doesn't manage to tear his eyes away from the ravens. "Okay so, don't hate me for this. But you know I'm not good with words so this is the best way I can explain everything." Akira doesn't move away, just nods his head slightly to tell Ryuji that it's okay. But he still doesn't remove his hand from under Ryuji's chin. Taking a deep breath, Ryuji shifts from his position beside Akira, to sit on Akira's outstretched legs. His leaders eyes widen slightly, but he still doesn't make a single move to get out of Ryuji's reach. In fact instead of moving away from Ryuji, he moves his hand from underneath the blonde's chin, to rest them on his hips. 

Before Ryuji can back out, he leans forwards and captures Akira's lips with his own. Akira doesn't wait long to reciprocate. In fact barely a second passes before he's kissing Ryuji back with a passion, not wanting the other teen to think he's crossed a line and pull away from him. Ryuji lets out a breath through his nose, before responding to Akira's enthusiasm with his own. They're both inexperienced so the kiss is awkward for a few seconds before they get the hang of it. Akira moves a hand to Ryuji's cheek to turn his head slightly so the angle is less awkward. Ryuji repositions himself on Akira's legs, pressing closer to Akira's chest so that there is less space between the two of them. Akira pulls away first, taking a deep breath to refill his lungs with much needed oxygen, while Ryuji does the same thing. "I love you, Ryuji." He figures he's wasted enough time pining over Ryuji, it's time he told the blonde exactly what he feels for him. 

Ryuji splutters a little, his cheeks turning a bright red. Before he smiles at Akira. "I love you too, Akira." The two of them sit there for a few seconds as they catch their breath. "Can I.... Can I kiss you again?" Akira smiles at the blonde he's smitten with, love written on his features clearly. Instead of answering Ryuji's question with words, he uses the hand still on Ryuji's cheek to pull him back in. With them having figured the angle and spacing out, it's much less awkward. And it also makes it easier for the two to start getting used to each other. Akira cradles Ryuji's cheek in one hand, while the other draws slow circles on Ryuji's hip. Ryuji's hands, wrap around Akira's neck. It doesn't take long for Ryuji to start playing with the hair at the nape of Akira's neck. And only a little more time, a few seconds more, for his other hand to delve in to Akira's mop of curls. Akira lets out an immediate noise of approval when Ryuji starts playing with his hair. This is the most positive contact he's had with anyone in a while. While _yes_ that is partly his fault, he was touch starved before his return to Inaba. Even before his first arrival in Tokyo. So to have one person that he knows won't hurt him playing with his hair makes him feel more happy and content than he has in years. 

He pulls away from the kiss a little to revel in Ryuji's touch. Ryuji just watches him with a smile on his face, revelling in the fact that Akira will allow himself to be so vulnerable around Ryuji. His eyes are closed in contentment and he's leaning in to Ryuji's touch. After running his hands through Akira's hair a few more times, he pulls his hand back. Chuckling slightly when Akira whines at the loss. He climbs off of Akira's lap and leans against the wall beside him. "Come here you big Kitten." Pulling on Akira's shirt slightly gets his point across, so Akira lays down on his bed, his knees curled up to his chest as he rests his head on Ryuji's thighs. As soon as Akira is comfortable, both of Ryuji's hands immediately return to Akira's hair. Petting it, combing his fingers through it and ruffling it. Akira slowly but surely, starts melting under Ryuji's touch. "You really are a big cat. I'd bet you'd be purring right now if you could." Akira opens one of his eyes to look up at Ryuji, and sticks his tongue out in defiance. 

"Maybe. You don't know that." Ryuji revels again in hearing Akira's usual snark. He knows and understands that despite how much Akira is acting like his old self, that he isn't _truly_ back to normal. But maybe their actions in his Palace, everything they said to and told his Shadow and them stealing his treasure, helped him more than they thought it would. Maybe it won't take as long as they feared, for him to heal and return to how he was before. Ryuji honestly couldn't say, all he _can_ confidently say on the matter is that he'll be by Akira's side every step of the way. After all, he's been with Akira since the beginning, there is _no way_ that he's going to abandon him now. No way in hell.

He doesn't respond for a few seconds, just continues to run his fingers through Akira's hair. Only when Akira relaxes again and his eyes start to close does Ryuji speak up again. "You can go back to sleep if you want. I'll be right her when you wake up. Akira stares up at Ryuji for a few seconds, before deciding he wants to take him up on the offer of more sleep and he melts the rest of the way into Ryuji's touch. Ryuji smiles down at the teen and continues playing with his hair. It isn't too long before Ryuji starts feeling tired himself. He could move so that he won't be uncomfortable in the morning or have any pain in his neck. But he knows that seeing Akira rest as peacefully as he is right now, is more than worth being a little uncomfortable in a few hours. It's even worth the neck pain he'll feel when he wakes up. So subjecting himself to his his fate, he leans further in to the wall, his hand still making slow movements in Akira's hair. Before finally Ryuji falls asleep as well, and his movements come to a stop, even if his hand is still resting in Akira's hair. 

When Sojiro finds the 2 of them still curled up asleep together next morning, he truly understands for the first time how much Ryuji cares for Akira. So he leaves the 2 teens where they are, and heads back down in to the café to set up for the day. And if he has food ready for them by the time they wake up, then only the 3 of them ever need to know about that. Because they're all going to help Akira get better. Sojiro's role in that is to fix his malnourishment and try and get Akira's appetite back. Futaba's is to keep standing by Akira as he heals, because she's the only one of them who can even slightly relate to what having (and losing) a Palace feels like. Ryuji's role in his healing is to stand by his side no matter what, just like he did last year. Because at some point Akira's healing is going to hit a few bumps, it's almost an undeniable fact. So he's going to need someone to be there beside him in those moments, someone he's actually willing to let in. The rest of the teens (and Morgana) while each playing their own significant role in helping Akira get back to how he was before, their main role in his healing is to support Sojiro, Futaba and Ryuji. Make sure that they are able to do what they need to do to help Akira. Ensure that they have everything and all of the information they need to help. 

Because all of them have learnt from their mistakes, and are all more than willing to act as whatever type of support pillar that Akira might need them to be. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of Prison Fit for a Thief. I honestly really enjoyed writing it so I just wanted to thank you all for reading it and hoped you enjoyed it. 
> 
> I know the worlds a pretty shit place at the minute, so I hope that this fic (or any of my fics really) brought you even a tiny bit of happiness while the world is going to shit. Because I know that *I* turn to fics when I need some cheering up. Both writing them and reading them.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Couldn't get the image of Akira with Arsene's wings out of my head so I poorly edited it while waiting for Unus Annus to die

[Joker with Arsene's wings simple as](https://silverotaku.tumblr.com/post/634766398315446272)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I did it wrong the first time don't mind that)


End file.
